Stain and finish for parawood

franksmom_2010

13 years ago

Hi! I'm buying an unfinished dining table made of parawood (rubberwood) and would appreciate any info on how best to finish it.

I've done a lot of furniture stripping and sanding, but usually paint. The last time I stained anything, the only consumer products readily available were the Minwax products. I understand there's a whole lot more on the market now.

My plan is to sand lightly, stain (the goal is a mahogany color), and finish.

I've read conflicting things about staining this wood. Some sources say it stains beautifully. Other say it tends to be blotchy. Some recommend a wood conditioner, some don't. They all say that the wood is similar to oak in hardness and staining abilities.

My questions:

-what has been your experience with this wood?

-any recommendation for stains (brand, oil based, water based)

-I'd like to stay within the same brand for stain and finish, so any recommendations for a finish? Hand rubbed poly? I'd like a soft, satin finish.

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it'sALLart

7 years ago

I am in the middle of staining several parawood pieces. I've also painted many in the past as well. I know it's WAAAY late to answer your questions but I thought I'd add some experience to this in case of someone's need in the future.

Parawood is rubber wood. Rubber trees exude sap that is latex. Latex over wood does not take stain well at all. This is why the wood is cheap = the furniture is less expensive. Great deal on the unfinished furniture, not so much fun finishing it! Parawood is a green wood as it replenishes fast, and it's a great
bargain way to buy furniture but it's definitely on it's own for
staining and needs a special treatment.

I've tried Minwax products with some good success, but be prepared for a LOT of work. I had a really rich, dark dining table I was trying to match four chairs to. The table was a dark, chocolatey walnut. Remember, I'm starting with raw, blond chairs, so it took four layers of Minwax Woodsheen (in Colonial Walnut) and then a sprayed layer of Bombay Mahogany (Polyshades) and then another of Plantation Walnut spray. They finally matched. Multiply by four chairs! Ugh.

My best experiences with parawood is first priming them. I used a latex primer (because the rule of "fat over lean" works best in all situations, latex is lean, oil-based anything is fat). Then I sanded the primer. This evened out the overall tone of the furniture first and gave a good "toothy" surface for any finish to sit on. Yes, it makes it even lighter, but you at least have a surface that will take the stain EVENLY overall, and that's important.

It's a joy and very easy to prime and then paint and since right now (in 2017) painted furniture is still pretty popular, I'd suggest this route. Grays, blues, purples, vermillions... the sky is the limit. Get a good 2" brush with very soft bristles and paint with the grain no matter what. Spray-painting works well too, but in tight areas, (inside corners, joints) you will be tempted to spray heavily and get drips. Resist this! I prefer brushing because of this very reason and spray where I live is very difficult due to humid conditions or gnats getting into it outdoors.

Good luck to anyone reading this, it takes patience but can look great when finished. My chair below is 6 (six!) coats of finish, but the result is professional looking and very even and best of all, it matches the table!

Comments (8)

franksmom_2010
Original Author
13 years ago
Well, after a lot of internet reading, I may have answered some of my own questions.

It looks like an oil based stain would be fine, and I see no reason not to use the Minwax products. I like that there's an assortment of colors that I can find anywhere, so I can easily custom mix my own stain.

About the finish...the wipe on poly sounds like a perfectly fine product. I did some reading about Waterlox, and it sounds like a great finish, but a bit cumbersome to apply, and requires a separate product (sealer) as a base coat. Is there any really compelling reason to use one or the other? The dining table in question will get infrequent use.

It turns out that I have an old can of the wipe on ploy that I never used for a project. Would it be ok to still use it, or does the product need to be fresh? Do you sand between each coat of the poly, or just after the first coat?

Sanding- so, I don't want to go up to a super-fine grit on the raw wood? I've read that sanding too fine on a hard wood will make it more difficult for the stain to penetrate. So, I want smooth, but not glassy?

What I've been able to find so far about the conditioner is that I won't need it for this type of wood, and it's used for mostly soft woods, like pine.

I'd appreciate any other advice or experience anyone has. Thanks!
Vanessa Knight
8 years ago
Thank you for responding to yourself. Now in 2015, you have answered many of my questions!
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Evette Larson
6 years ago
it'sALLart, your chairs looks great in the picture! Just the look I want. I've got 4 unfinished ladderback parawood chairs on order and also want them to match my table, which looks like a Bombay Mahogany. Did you sand the raw parawood first? Is the order of operations you used sand raw wood, latex wood sealer, sand the sealer, brush apply X coats of a Minwax Woodsheen, spray Polyshades ? I knew it was going to be a lot of work going in, but will do one at a time. Thanks in advance :)
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it'sALLart
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I didn't need to sand the chairs because they came sanded and smooth. I used zero latex sealer, just a light wash of white primer (watered down primer, 3 parts primer, 1 part water) then a light sanding The reason for the primer in my case was to even out the tones of the wood, there were some really dark parts against light parts and it looked odd. I put the Minwax Woodsheen on in 4 coats (this took many days). You might think it hasn't changed before coat 3 and 4. Then sprayed Polyshades mahogany in two LIGHT coats, letting it completely dry between coats (48 hrs or more). The hardest part is in-between the smallest parts of the back with the Woodsheen, I recommend a q-tip and a toothpick to get into the cracks. One thing I didn't add before is putting a good coat of a beeswax polish on in a week or two, because it really helped even out the overall look and made them look really rich. Good luck! It's worth the hard work.
Evette Larson
6 years ago
Thank you so much!
Carroll Scott
6 years ago
what about using the rustoleum product that has a degassing agent(instead of sanding) and then a bond coat then a sealer on parawood?
Krystal Rios
5 years ago
Does anyone have any experience whitewashing parawood. I want to use a reactive stain and then whitewash over that.