Minwax PolyShades Wood Stain + Polyurethane Finish – Quart, Classic Oak, Satin

Great one-step stain+varnish
My home was built in the 70s and has that awful walnut-stained pine trim that apparently was so popular back then but just tends to look dirty and unfinished. I priced replacing all the trim in the house (eek) and instead decided to simply paint it. Someone suggested PolyShades instead, I tried it, and was sold.Pros:It’s easy to apply: You dust off the wood (or clean it if necessary and let it dry), scuff it lightly with some sandpaper, then apply the stain with a rag or brush. I let it set for a second, then (lightly) smooth off the excess. That’s about it.It’s beautiful when finished: I chose Bombay Mahogany, which is a very dark brown with purple highlights, so not a lot of the wood grain shows through. It’s a really rich, beautiful color that goes well with the “oiled bronze” finishes that have been popular lately.Nice finish: The surface has a satin finish that’s very nice and needs no further treatment.Cons (more like “just be awares”)Don’t stop at one coat. I don’t know about the other colors in the PolyShades palette, but this color definitely needs TWO applications. With just one, the finish is very splotchy when it dries.I’ve tried applying it on bare wood, and bare wood with sanding sealer, and bare wood with a layer of varnish underneath. The coated wood SHOULD have smoothed out any uneven absorption of stain, making the coloring more even, but it didn’t. So just be prepared to purchase enough for at least two coats on whatever you’re doing.Fumes. It has a definite odor and can make you dizzy if you apply it in a small, enclosed space, so make sure you follow the safety directions and have lots of good ventilation.Not as durable as old-fashioned stain+varnish: This IS a surface treatment, i.e., when you apply it on a previously varnished surface, it doesn’t soak in. It will NOT last as long as if you’d removed the previous coatings down to bare wood and then applied it.Several years after application, it’s worn away on the tops of our stair rails, and chipped off where the vacuum cleaner rubs against it. We just clean those areas and reapply, so it’s good to keep a small can around.I think some of the reviewers who gave Polyshades a low rating were expecting the same level of soak-in/adhere/durability as you’d get doing this with standard Minwax stains, and it’s just not going to happen–not the same product at all.Availability. I used to get this at Home Depot, but they’ve dropped this line. After calling around, Amazon was the only place I could find that actually had it in stock. I took the precaution of buying extra just in case because you WILL be touching it up over the years.

This is essentially tinted varnish. Don’t try to use it as you would a stain.
If people purchasing this finish would keep that in mind, and follow the instructions on the can, most of the issues leading to bad reviews could be avoided. This wood finish product is not a stain, it is a tinted transparent polyurethane coat. Don’t brush it on and try to wipe it off as you would a stain. It is not a stain. Don’t expect it to penetrate bare wood in the way a stain does. It is not a stain. Do treat it as a varnish or polyurethane type of finish for the surface of wood. Use thin coats. Let it dry COMPLETELY before applying another coat. Sand lightly between coats if needed, especially if there are drips. Work fairly quickly and lightly brush the whole surface to even out a coat before letting it dry. If you’re starting with bare wood, use a wood sealer first, or use a regular stain and clear coat instead of this product. The best use of this product is to change the color of finished wood without having to sand off the old finish completely. It will make a light color darker, but it will not make a dark color lighter, though the red-toned or yellow-toned colors can warm up a darker wood finish.I bought this because I’m in the midst of painting a spare bedroom. The closet doors date to when the house was built in the 70s. Their thin factory spray-on finish was looking dull and worn out, and the dark color was dated. The doors bore dings of hard use by kids and the finish had been marred by past by naughty male cats with territorial issues. I didn’t have the budget to replace them, and while I thought about painting them white, I’d have to use primer and many coats, and do the rest of the woodwork to match, and that just didn’t fit my timeline for having this done (though it’s not out of the question for the future). All I wanted was something to freshen the color and brighten the finish. This product looked like just the thing. I chose the chestnut shade to add warmth to the dull dark wood. After sanding, I applied this with a disposable sponge brush. The directions on the can recommend a natural bristle brush, and that might work even better, but the sponge brush worked well enough. The closet doors took two coats. The bedroom door, which was in much better shape, looked great after one thin coat. The baseboards and window moulding took one coat, and the windowsill, which was weatherbeaten and bore lots of scratch marks, took considerable sanding and several coats to get a good finish. The result is woodwork with a nicer color and a fresh new shine. This is exactly the kind of thing this product is for, and it did the job very well.BE SURE TO VENTILATE THE ROOM WELL. This stuff is VERY fumy. I took the screen out of the window and put a large box fan in the window while I worked, which was adequate, but I still worked quickly and left the door to the room shut while the finish dried. Also, keep pets and small kids out of the room while the finish dries! Not only could the fumes be bad for them, but the finish will be sticky for at least five hours, and you don’t want small handprints or clumps of pet fur marring your finish.

Excellent product.
Worked perfectly.

Changed cherry wood to black and its gorgeous
Easy to use, low to no odor. Let it cure longer than indicated, rub lightly with steel wool to make additional coats smooth as glass.

Excellent

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