General Finishes Corporation

I have never encountered a U.S. company with a premium product so lacking in customer service. They make it impossible to contact them by telephone or e-mail. I have been using the General Finishes oil-based "Light Oak" wood stain. It is apparently unavailable and I can't find out from my dealer (Woodcrafters) or General Finishes whether there has been a simple name change to the product or if there is a close substitution.

We currently use General Finishes Pro Floor Stain & Finishes on our sanding & refinishing jobs throughout Virginia for Sheaves Floors LLC. It has been the most user friendly products we have worked with. Always excellent results and our customers are always very pleased with the final results. The color options for the stains are unlimited. The Pro Floor finishes are great products for top coating, they flow well and the durability is great. General Finishes Pro Floor system is our exclusive brand for all of our water-based finishes.

We use General Finishes' products exclusively on all of our projects. They have the highest quality finishes that are both durable and environmentally friendly. They are continually developing new products that are easy to use and we are always pleased with the final result.

General Finishes stains and top coat/ polyurethanes are my go to finish. I use the gel stains on my pieces often layered combining different colors, really good saturated pigments. The layering system of starting with a first coat of aniline dyes followed up with gel stain to bring out the figuring in woods like quarter sawn oak is amazing (see master finisher Jeff Jewitt's blog for info on this). The Arm R Seal wipe on satin poly is a very soft, barely noticeable gloss that brings out the color on Craftsman style pieces without overpowering the beauty of the wood with too much shine. I've left glasses of ice water on overnight as a test with no damage. Really top line products.

My husband and I are homeowners, not professionals. Over the past forty years we have refinished a lot of furniture and wood floors and have the battle scars to prove it. Being in our sixties and seventies, respectively, we dreaded refinishing our old quarter sawn oak dining room table. My husband kept kept coming across rave reviews for General Finishes' products in various woodworking magazines and decided to give them a try. These products are an answer to a prayer. Fast drying? Absolutely. Each coat was totally dry (not tacky) within fifteen minutes. Odorless so we could work inside as we were not up to carrying that monster anywhere. And water based to boot for easy cleanup. Hello momma I'm home. We couldn't be more pleased with the results. We can't stop caressing the tabletop, and are now eyeing everything else in the house that needs a new finish. Pray for us.

I bought the Java Gel Stain from General Finishes and I was somewhat worried how to apply the product since it was a new type of stain I was unfamiliar with. However, the instructions on the can were very helpful and I followed them carefully. I'd suggest to users to mix Java Gel Stain a lot before use and to not worry too much about the look of the stain right out of the can, the color looks beautiful on the wood once applied. I also used an old rag to smooth out the finish even though I read that Java Gel Stain should be self flattening. Take your time and follow the steps on the can and you should be set. I also used the recommended General Finishes High Performance Topcoat in Satin on top of the Gel Stain after it dried. I love the final look I got with the Gel Stain on my bookshelf and I am excited to try more of General Finishes products, they have many other colors of gel stains and I probably would try Nutmeg Gel Stain next.

I recently used General Finishes Georgian Cherry Gel Stain to refinish my kitchen cabinets. I could not be more pleased with how they turned out! I watched their YouTube videos before starting to get some tips, and felt very confident that I tackle this project.t The Gel Stain was easy to use and allowed me to completely transform my kitchen cabinets without spending a fortune. I can't wait to try more General Finishes products on future projects!

General Finishes has expert knowledge of wood finishing and readily shares it with the users of their products. Their products work better than anything I've tried on the market.

General Finishes makes great, high quality products! I recently completed a few projects, including a bench, kitchen table, and cabinet using various products. The water-based Milk Paint goes on smoothly and dries without paint lines. It has a great opacity, so it doesn't take very many coats to get good coverage. I've also tried the Gel Stain, which comes in a lot of colors, and it worked like a charm. It doesn't have a strong odor, and it wipes on very easily with little prep work. The colors are vibrant and really compliment the wood tones. I finished all my pieces with High Performance Polyurethane Topcoat, which is also water-based. It dried quickly and left a nice hard coating. I would love to try the water-based wood stains and dye stains as well!