I just found out I made a big mistake in my understanding of Pre-stain wood conditioners. The cherry wood I'm using was not getting a good smooth stain so I thought I try some wood conditioner first before the stain. I had a can of General finish seal a cell and thought it was just a wood conditioner. WRONG I know now. I used the Seal a cell and then tried some wood stain and finally found the color I needed which was a very dark mahogany look(Wife likes). I then made the mistake of using the seal a cell on the nightstand. I then got the brain storm of putting some polyurethane on one of my sample boards to make sure the stain color would look after that. Yes the stain came off when I wiped the polyurethane on.
Problem I have now. The cherry nightstand has the seal a cell on it without any stain at this point.
The people at the paint store have told me I need to use a stain with polyurethane already in it like Miniwax polycoat. This is like paint with little or no wood grain left now on my sample boards.
I have a stain which looks good on top of the seal a cell but don't know how to put a Semi gloss finish of some kind on it.
I was told I could not remove or sand off the Seal a cell as it has soaked into the wood already. Some of the cherry nightstand has some detail and groves which would be tough to sand.
Does anyone know what may remove the Seal a Cell? Is a poly/stain path my only option if I can't remove the Seal a Cell.
ps I have Bob Flexners book but did not understand the differences in the two pre-stain and wood conditioner products