1. Choose your stain color first - going dark will narrow your stain selection. You can achieve the deepest colors in our Water-based stains, followed by Gel Stains. If you want a light stain, you can choose from either water or oil.

2. Determine the characteristics of wood species if you are staining raw wood.

3. Determine what the substrate is. You can put any stain on raw wood, but certain stains work better on existing finishes, such as General Finishes Gel Stain, or Water Based-Wood Stain.

4. Choose the application method - do you prefer to brush or spray. You can brush or spray water-based stains, but oil stains should be brushed or wiped on.

5. Choose the stain type, oil-based or water-based.

6. Will you be using an oil or water-based topcoat? General Finishes water-based finishes dry clear except for Enduro-Var. All oil-based topcoats will amber.