Wood – do to eliminate the stickiness of the oil-based wood stain

stainwood

I recently painted over my doors and frames with Minwax oil-based wood stain. It's been 3 weeks and they are all still very sticky when I touch them. I tried wiping, and wiping with a clean dry rag and the color comes off but not the sticky feeling. I also tried wiping with a damp rag and then a clean dry rag with no luck.

What do I need to do to get rid of the stickiness?

Best Answer

If you were using a combined stain/varnish (likely with the Minwax brand), it was probably outdated. They can expire. Removing it's going to be essentially a matter of stripping the wood bare and starting again.

If you were using a real stain, they normally aren't applied like paint -- they're flooded onto a surface, allowed to sit a bit to soak in, and the excess is then wiped off before the piece is allowed to dry. This provides only color, not protection; a layer of varnish/lacquer/shellac should be applied over stain to seal it.