Using ML Campbell WS2-B10 Base Stain With General Finishes Topcoats - Help!

[Brian Parker]

I'm going to be staining a project that I've been working on once the weather warms up a little as I'll need to leave the garage door open a bit to get the smell out by circulating air with a fan. If memory serves me correct this stain needs to have a minimum air temp of 70 so I can heat the garage to that temp with the door open when it's ~60 out.

Anyway onto the nitty gritty... I purchased some ML Campbell WS2-B10 Stain Base stain (not a water base) and had it custom mixed with a darker pigment (think of light burgundy meets brown). The chairs that we had done with this stain were finished with a conversion varnish and came out great but I don't have that product. After they were done I took the remaining stain and all the paperwork so that I could stain the TV stand that I am finishing up now. I lost the paperwork and can only find a two page MSDS sheet on ML Campbell's website. If memory serves me correct it was a good 10 or so pages with detailed temperature and top coating info. Since I can't find this info I thought I'd rely on the knowledge here. I normally stain and then apply Deft but won't be on this project.

The wood is cherry (not sure if it matters) and I plan on sanding to 120 and applying the stain with a rag. After the stain is dry do I need to apply Zinsser Quart Sealcoat Sanding Sealer? I ask as I bought that for a project and never used it so now I have a gallon sitting around that could be put to use. I was going to use General Finishes Arm-R-Seal Urethane Topcoat on the sides and vertical areas. For the top and shelves portion I was planning on using General Finishes High Performance Polyurethane Water Based Top Coat (both in a satin finish). I read where the HP water base is very hard so it should resist scratching more. I don't want to mess something up and then have to strip, sand, clean, and redo the finishing process due to ignorance. Is anyone familiar with this stain / base enough to tell me if I need to use the sanding sealer at all or under one of those topcoats etc? I was planning on putting 3-4 coats of clear to help it stand the test of time.

I've been searching for help on this and apologize if I missed it but I wasn't able to find anything.

[Steve Schoene]

If the oil base stain is well cured, there should be no need for the dewaxed shellac (Seal Coat) Generally however it would not hurt, though there are some waterborne finishes that might not adhere well to the Seal Coat if it is not really fresh. You should check out the date codes on the Seal Coat--there is likely a post on this sight giving the decoding information. The manufacturer gives a three year life, but many believe this is much longer than is realistic. They would keep the usable shelf life to more like a year or so. (The deterioration of liquid shellac occurs even in unopened containers.)