Exterior varnish and woodstain. Wot's the Difference

[Adaptor]

I am soon to recoat doors and windows to keep the natural wooden look (ie not paint)

Sadolin calls their products "woodstain"

How does that differ from "varnish" ??

How can i tell what is already coating the windows or doors.

What would happen if I was to recoat sadolin woodstain with varnish, for example??

i.e. are they compatable?

Its a bit confusing as there is woodstain that must be used on bare wood only, and then requires a finish coating of varnish; obviously the Sadolin and similar products are a different kettle of fish to that kind of wood dye woodstain . Am I right??

Cheers

 

[emilybronte]

Calm down!

First, you cannot always know what is on wood already. Whatever it's got on it it will need sanding down. If it's mottled in appearance, then try to remove all the coating as it will still look mottled even if you stain it. The ideal is to start off with an even colour.

Stain penetrates wood and colours it. You can go darker but not lighter than the original wood.

Varnish doesn't penetrate, darkens the surface slightly, and creates a glossy, satin or matt finish.

Some products are stain and varnish in one. Sadolin do one which is pretty good.

 

[Adaptor]

Thanks for your reply!

Calm down!


Some products are stain and varnish in one. Sadolin do one which is pretty good.

Yet they call it Woodstain. So really it should be called "Woodstain with varnish" to enlighten folk such as myself aka "the confused"