Varathane One Step Stain & Spar Semi-Gloss Dark Walnut Wood Finish

Great stain. Have used it on a few projects looks great.

Covered my whole project and went on nicely

Easy water clean up. Fast drying to a satin finish. Highly recommend this product. Delivery on day promised.

Worked Great

I used this Varathane product to finish a set of stairs for my spa, made out of pressure treated wood. I’ve used a competing similar product before, but it was oil based. These “combination” finishes can be hit-or-miss, but it was available just when I needed something. What the heck, eh!? I like the fact this is water based, as far as application & cleanup. Likely the same with all water based finishes, this is quite thin and requires 3 coats per the instructions. That was easy enough, as it dries quite fast. It seems to only be available in semi-gloss; I would have preferred a satin finish for this job, but the results came out quite nice. For my application, I’m a bit concerned about the overall thickness of the finish and the durability, and how it’ll hold up over time (of course it won’t get “high traffic” use, but still . . .). The test of time will tell. As you can see from the test photo where I show the color change with each coat on raw wood, it certainly does darken with each coat. I was really surprised, and a bit worried, after the 1st coat at how light the stain was, but was much more relieved after the 2nd coat, and quite satisfied after the final 3rd coat. I sanded between coats with a high grit sandpaper to knock off the tiny dust nibs, etc. Special note about the photo of the finished stairs: I burned the wood with a propane torch first to darken the sap wood & the grain pattern, so your results may not be as dark as mine turned out. I think if you’re OK with the semi gloss & the color, and want an easy to apply finish – minus the easy task of sanding in between coats (absolutely necessary with most finished and multiple coats), you should consider giving this a try.

Great stain. Looks beautiful on my new fence.

I originally used this exact protection stain on the 12x12 cedar columns on my front and back porch. It went on so well and dried so evenly that I came back and bought more to stain my wife’s greenhouse and a decorative cedar fence around the barn and corrals where we keep our horses. You won’t be disappointed - I LOVE IT!!

I just used it to protect my outdoor planter. It provides a good seal.