Varathane 381119 Water Based Wood Stain, Quart, Dark Walnut

Project has to be done quickly as it will thicken toward the end. Has been holding up well so far after a year of staining a breezeway door I had made on my carport.

This goes on quickly and dries quickly so as to be able to proceed with stain. The conditioner greatly improves the overal smooth appearance of your stain when finished. Also gives you more time to work and slows stain absorption, to keep from getting over-dark.

A lot easier to use than oil based. Ive been using this in place of painting for projects and it works great. Dries a lot nicer than oil based and super quick cleanup

This is a very nice stain. Just keep in mind that any water base stain has to be spread on the wood surface very fast. That's why water base stains are recommended to be prayed, not rubbed on like lacquer or oil stains. Water based stains dry super fast & gives very little working time. But the results are beautiful. I highly recommend to try using it on a small spare scrap wood to get the feel of how fast water base stain dries. Especially keep in mind that since it's water base, if swells up the wood. So wherever you have 2 laminate woods butting up with each other, the line across where they both meet will raise up. Careful on the edge banding edges also where the water base stain can get in, ungluing & lifting the edge band.

Bought this as an external protectant for my above ground planters. I love the dark color! It coats very well, wipes away easily, dries very fast in the sun (VERY FAST). It smells like stain, but I did it outside and in CO there is always a wind of some sort so it wasn't all that bothersome. It cleaned up pretty easily as it's water based. All in all it was a good value. I used 2 of these to stain both planters. I'd use it again easily.

This stuff really makes a difference in results. When I don't use it, the stain it's a completely different color and further away from the desired results and color that is depicted on the packaging of the stain. When I don't use this first, the stain came out much darker and patchy. I definitely recommend going the extra mile and using this on your sanded wood first BEFORE applying your stain. It makes a WORLD of difference. In my photo, the left is without using the prestain and the right is with using it. Take the extra time, do the extra work, it is worth it. Don't be like me and try to skip it because you are tired lol now I have to resand that section of floor and redo it all. SIGH.

Love, love, love this product! I professionally restore, refinish, and reimage furniture, and decided to give this a try—I was impressed right away. It helps make the wood grain more uniform after sanding and does an excellent job prepping the surface for stain and polyurethane. I highly recommend it and will definitely be using it on many future projects.

This was a Disaster! I cannot believe the Terrible quality of this product. I am so surprised. The stain pigment did not bind to the liquid inside can, no matter how much you stir, shake, doesn't matter. It is chunky, gritty liquid that went onto my deck like dirt. See photos. I don't know if this is just an expired can but I will not make this purchase again. It ruined the portion of deck I tried it on. I will have to sand it off in order to start over.