I have a piece of furniture that is stained and already sealed in a light color. I plan to use MiniWax stain product to make it darker. Should this work? Even though MiniWax has some built in sealer should I still use a Varnish to seal over that for it to properly seal since I am going over an existing sealant?
Stain is meant for raw wood as it soaks in. You *could* use it on a pre-existing hard finish by first sanding that finish to provide a tooth for the stain but I'd suggest useing a toner - color in a clear finish. What finish? Same as what is on it now, probably lacquer (if commercially done) or polyurethane (if DIY done). In the case of the latter, the old surface needs to be lightly but totally sanded first. More than one coat of toner may be needed to get the color you want.
Should it work? NO! Will it work, that will be up to you to decide. Adding a stain over a finish is more like adding a glaze/faux finish effect. Yes you should add a protective finish over that however it is likely to disturb the Miniwax coat.
To do it properly sand down to bare wood and use a stain that is the color/darkness that you like, followed by a protective varnish.
You can use the Minwax Polyshades product. It is a polyurethane (varnish) with color in it. You'll need to experiment to see if you can darken up your project as desired. Maybe there is some back leg or area you can experiment. One thing to watch for is to be very careful in application because overlaps on slightly dried areas will be darker than not over;lapped areas. Have to apply very evenly with this product, evan on raw wood.
Light (very light) sonading would be good to get good adhesion.
I tried Minwax Furniture Refinisher, followed by a light sanding (in my situation I was worried about sanding through the mahogany veneer of a coffee table top), followed by Minwax's "Wood Prep" which helped prevent the stain from blotching in the next step, when the stain finish was dark enough, wiped it off let it dry and put 4-6 thin coats of their Helmsman Polyurethane Spar varnish, with a light 220-320 grit surface abrasion between coats. I was very pleased with the results. Good luck, Joe.
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