Expert: Eileen Cronk - 11/7/2009

Question
I have a light pine finish on my chair,can i make it a dark cherry color without stripping it.
 thank you for your time
stan

Answer
Hi Stan
Nice to hear from you.
Unfortunately we must strip wood to stain a different color.
Sounds great in theory but the problem is that some woods will not absorb stain well.
Its especially true when we want a dark stain.
Its just the way it is with woods.
Thats why we see these colored lacquer finishes on most wood today.
The stain is in the finish which is sprayed on.
There is a slight hope you could achieve what you want with a product called Minwax Polyshades.
It has color right in the finish and you brush it on.
Possibly look at the color samples at the hardware store and do a test.
Hope this helps
Regards
Eileen