I have a couple of finishing questions

[joed]

I made a couple of plant stands for Mothers day using a gel stain on the frame. For the top and side panels I used hard maple and want to leave the maple as white as I can but still have some kind of water resistant finish. So I want to use a water based poly as the finish. Does anyone know if I will run into a problem using Minwax water based poly over General Finishes gel stain? Also will the water based poly raise the grain of the wood that has been stained? Any better ideas on the finish? Might this be a good project to learn about shellac?

[SteveC]

The water based poly is OK over the General Finishes stain. Yes, it will raise the grain unless you seal with shellac after staining and before applying poly. I work with this same combination freqeuntly.

[phildcrowNOSPAM]

Okay.

Does anyone

The bottle/can that the stuff comes in will speak volumes. Conventional wisdom says oil over oil, though.

Also will the water based poly raise the

Oil-based poly? Oil? I'm putting some Watco Danish Oil on a project right now--my first time with the stuff, but I like it berry mush so far.

Plant stands mean water. Shellac doesn't like water too much.

-Phil Crow

[nospambob]

Shellac is often suggested as a barrier coat between finishing steps. Zinssers Seal Coat is DEWAXED shellac with a 3 year shelf life and is available in Qt cans. Waxy shellac can be a problem with some finishes.

[Leon]

Yes you can put a water based varnish over an oil based stain. It probably will raise the grain. An oil based varnish will not. IMHO using a MinWax varnish is chancy. I would go with a General Finishes varnish also, Arm-R-Seal.