Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Staining

So I'm planning on stripping and then refinishing my kitchen cabinents. I plan on taking off all the doors and doing those downstairs.

How do people stain...is there a way to stain the entire door at once or do I have to do the front and then a day/two latter flip and do the other side?

Thanks,

I often stain the backside first and then flip it over to do the front. Since you wipe off all the excess stain and then place the door on thin wood strips, there is seldom a problem. When you get to the varnish/poly it gets a little trickier. I usually stand them up, poly both sides and all edges but the bottom and let one corner/edge rest against the wall. Flip the dr over for the next coat.

Stripper doesn't always remove all the stain so be sure to sand well prior to staining.

When sanding do people use a palm sander or the like for kitchen cabinents?

If you don't mind a couple small 1" tack nails in the back of the cabinet door, you can hang them on metal coat hangers. Put a slight bend on the nails so that they "hook" onto the hanger.

One experience I had once this past summer (never happened before) while laying stained material onto wooden strips was that the stain was lighter everywhere there was a strip. Had something to do with heat and humidity, I think because it was in the summertime. Kinda strange.

while laying stained material onto wooden strips was that the stain was lighter everywhere there was a strip.

I may still use the nail. How does the wood strips work? What size strips are we talking about mounted on what?

A palm sander is great for the intial sanding but sanding between coats of poly should be done by hand. Between coats should only require a light sanding with 180-220 grit.

When you lay a freshly stained piece on wood strips the idea is for the strip to be narrow so it limits the amount of contact. Since you want to wipe off any excess stain there usually isn't a problem. When there is, it can often be fixed by rubbing the area with a damp stain rag. Since the door rests on the back side, minor defects aren't near as important as it would be on the face of the cabinet door.

Will the strips work when I apply the polyu, or will I have to wait for each side to dry before flipping over, otherwise they would stick. In this case the tack nail idea, allows me to finsih all sides at once.

The strips will stick to the poly! That's why I usually stand the doors on end, applying poly to all sides and edges except the bottom edge - flip them for the next coat.

When I set things on strips, it's usually 3/4 x 3/4" scraps left over from ripping. However I've occasionally made a triangle shaped strip (by cutting a square piece of wood at a 45 degree angle to make two triangles) and these work pretty good to reduce the amount of contact that is made.

Like Marksr said, these strips would be good for staining, but not for the poly.

One other trick I've used is to take 2 step ladders, set them about 10 ft apart, then put 1x10's on each step. Then I install 3 screws in a triangle shape, screwing them up through the bottom of the 1x10 so that they are sticking straight up. Then I can carefully set the back side of a cabinet door on top of the point of the screws. I'll spray the back side first, then flip it over and carefully set it on the screws. Being careful is the key- unless you lift it straight up, it'll scratch. You can hardly notice the 3 points where it contacted the screws once you're finished with 2 or 3 coats.

Whats the best way to apply the stain? brush or foam? How many coats do kitchen cabinets normally get?

Thanks

3 coats of poly is the norm. It's hard to get a nice job with less than 3 and occasionally it takes more to make the finish look right.

Great, after doing much reading here, it seems I would get better results if I do staining and poly as seperate steps. That being the case how many coast of stain am I like to need or it that merely personal preference as to look.

Stain is obsorbed by the wood with any excess wiped off. Because the stain kid of seals the wood it is difficult to apply more stain. There are tricks to modify the color of the stain but it is best to get it right from the get go. There are some that think the stain looks awfull but don't realize that the poly/varnish will deepen and brighten the stain color. That's why I always try to poly samples for the customer - also about the only time I use the spray cans of poly ;)

As I've stripped a door, my wife is liking the look of the natural wood.
Are there any issues, with not stainning kitchen cabinets and just doing the 3 coats of poly?

Thanks