Dixie Belle No Pain Gel Stain
I recently tried Dixie Belle’s No Pain Gel Stain for the first time. We have a custom table refinishing job that we are working on. The client brought the table in requesting a new finish on the top and a painted base. Anytime anyone asks for a new stain job on a table top, the first thing you should ask is whether or not it is solid wood. And take their answer with a grain of salt because they are sometimes wrong when they tell you it is in fact solid wood. In fact, I’d say about 75% of the time, they are wrong in saying that their piece is solid. And that’s ok. After all, they don’t look at furniture every day and deconstruct it every day like refinishers do. So this particular client wanted a stripped and restained (different color) for her “solid oak” table top. Once the table arrived, we quickly realized that the table was in fact an overlay over top of solid wood boards on the frame. It does have 4 solid wood boards that frame the center portion but the center portion is not solid. Unfortunately, for overlays and veneer, you cannot strip the finish and get a good result. They usually end up being very blotchy and uneven in nature. You can try to sand it down as well but this can be difficult because you can damage the overlay/veneer and still end up with a not so even finish. This particular table did have some damage to the top where the finish had peeled off revealing that is was not solid. It also had a gap between that big solid sheet of overlay and the solid wood frame. The client preferred having this gap filled but it is difficult to get stain to match over wood filler so we left it untouched.
Here’s the before pics the client sent me.
Here’s a few closes ups where you can see the table top is more like a laminate overlay and the deep gouges are visible.
I typically use Varathane stains for most of my staining projects. Depending on usage, we will choose water or oil based. Because this table was not solid and had some very deep gouges in the top, I decided to go with a gel stain. Gel stains are good when you need a heavier coverage than you would get with a typical water based stain. But first, lets talk prep.
My hubby was able to sand this table down to basically the bare finish and got a great result. He amazes me, truly. He used our fav sander, the SurfPrep. If you haven’t invested in one yet and are curious, it is definitely worth the money. The lightweight build and quietness of it coupled with it’s ability to be hooked to a shopvac for little to no dust debris is not only worth the money spent but trust me… your lungs will thank you too! The table top was sanded down using Film Sheets (hook & loop) in various grits starting from lower (more rough) to higher (smoother). We were unable to get some of the deep gauges out without causing more damage to the non-solid finish but decided it would just add a little character to the farmhouse look the client was going for. She agreed. Once the table was sanded down, it was cleaned using our favorite cleaner/degreaser, TSP. You can pick this up at your local hardware store (we get it from Home Depot). You want to keep cleaning with this until your water residue is clean. Trust me, it takes a while. I am always amazed at how dirty furniture is when we finish this process.
Look how good it looks!
Now for the good stuff… Enter Dixie Belle No Pain Gel Stain (NPGS). Trust me when I say it was no pain at all. It mixed very easily with little settling on the top of the can when I first opened it. Gel stain has a pudding like consistency so it’s good for more coverage. It also is less likely to drip and make a mess. Dixie Belle’s NPGS is oil based so it will give your more durability than a water based stain which is exactly what you want for items that will have a lot of traffic and use -> like a table.
We chose walnut for the color and I applied the stain using a sponge (my favorite thing to apply stains with). When staining, you always want to make sure you apply the stain in the same direction as the wood grain on your piece. You also want to work in long, smooth strokes across the length of the piece whenever possible. This will keep your finish from looking blotchy with heavy areas that are visibly noticeable. Also, another good tip is to try and avoid overworking it. It can be hard, trust me. I tend to be a little bit of a perfectionist but sometimes if you keep wiping back over an area, it will actually remove the stain you just applied and leave a lighter area. No amount of touching it up will cover it either. It will either be lighter or you will apply it heavier to that “one spot” and it will show lines around it. Not cool. So to recap… Apply it in long strokes the whole length of the piece. Wipe back to remove any excess until you have a smooth finish and move on to the next portion. Also, work in small areas so you have more control and it doesn’t dry before you can finish wiping excess stain off. Apply it, wipe it so it’s even, and move on.
Allow the stain to dry completely before applying any additional coats or it will pull off/remove your fresh coat. Once you’re done with staining, you can pick your top coat. We chose an oil based topcoat by Varathane to go over the oil based DB stain for maximum durability.
As always, thanks for being here to follow along with our journey. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments. If you’d like to try out any Dixie Belle products, please consider using our affiliate link. It doesn’t cost you anything everything to use but helps support our small business with a commission.
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Below you can find a YouTube video of our application of the DB No Pain Gel Stain. Be sure and like the video and subscribe to our channel to be notified of new videos we post.
