No, but that’s a great idea!! I will try that next time, this one is long gone! :) xoxo

Oh yes, I love their gel stains! I have used several on their gel stains but most recently I am really loving their gel topcoat (that can be rubbed on instead of using a brush). I really love it! But you can also use water based poly if you wait several days for it to cure first. :) xoxo

Hmm, if it has all that grime, old varnish, etc, on it, if it were me, I’d probably start with a remover such as Citristrip, then sand after that. But it can be a little messy so that’s a personal call. Probably definitely try to do that on the spindles though. It will be hard to get all of that off by sanding those. Unless you would consider painting those maybe white? If they are that mahogany color I would use a sealer like Shellac beforehand if you paint them white. Yes, I think you can use gel stain after all of that but you could also use regular stain if you are doing all of that prep work and starting basically from scratch. Again, if that were me, and I had a freshly sanded surface, I’d move over to regular stain instead. This is all with the idea in mind that you want to turn a darker mahogany stained wood into walnut. Good luck with whichever you choose and I hope this was helpful!! :) xo

I am thinking of doing an entire old staircase, which has a redwood, mahogany stain with aged varnish and grime in it. UGH! The spindles have many curves, much like your table base. I need your suggestions. I’d like to change the stain to walnut. Do you think, after cleaning, sanding, prepping with conditioner, that gel stain would do the trick? Your thoughts and advice are welcome!

Oh yes, they were too pretty to paint, for sure! Thank you, Donna! :)

No, nothing went on before the stain and you wouldn’t want to. You want the stain to soak in a bit. Sealer goes on after. :) xo

Did you use a sealer on the base before you used the gel stain?

Thanks so much Julie! :) xo