Old Masters 80208, 1 Pint, Golden Oak, 16 Fl Oz

I've been using this brand and other gel stains for many years. What's great about gel is that it sits on the surface, so it's a great choice for non-absorbent woods like oak. And on more absorbent woods like pine, you'll get more even color than you would with a liquid stain. Also, the end grain won't get extremely dark like it does with liquid. You can apply with a bristle brush, a foam brush, or a cloth. For best results, fold up a cotton cloth (old t-shirts are excellent) into a pad. You're better off doing two thin coats instead of one thin coat. The instructions say you can use a water-pased polyurethane on top of this stain, but I get the best finish with oil-based poly.

This stain goes a long way and is easy to work with. Applied with an old t-shirt to items for even coating and no mess or spillage.

I tried to use this stain on a restoration. I had sanded down to bare wood on very light (almost white) oak. While I love gel stains in general, I have to give this one a thumbs down as the result was far more yellow/amber than golden. Ended up using golden pecan from MinWax and was very pleased with the genuine golden glow that it gave to the oak. That said, it was a perfectly good stain, just not the tone or hue that I was after in a "golden" stain.

Breathes new life into old scratched and faded stained wood

This stuff stays on the paint brush or rag or whatever you're using. It's gel so it doesn't run. I can wipe off if it's too dark or add more if I want it darker. It matches my kitchen cabinets perfectly, as well as my wood floor and bathroom cabinets. Won't go back to regular stain.

DO NOT BUY. I'm in the process of sampling stains for a project and I had narrowed down the colors to Golden Oak and Early American with other brands and types of products. Due to FOMO, I wanted to try all the options, so I came across Old Masters Gel stain and thought I'd try it. Well, this was a huge mistake and an even bigger waste of money. The Golden Oak is like a disgusting mustard color and the Early American is a bright orange color. Neither of which look anything like normal wood after staining, and neither of which are anything like industry standards of the color names. I didn't realize at the time of purchase that these items are non-returnable, so I have just thrown away around $60 for nothing. Honestly, I feel like I've been scammed since you can't return them.

Color matched exactly the adjacent wood-grain fiberglass door. Applied with a foam brush and no streaks! Stain blends in well too.

Auto correct said stinky, it's not wrong. Mixed well with a little red mahogany of the same brand and stained some pine to match some oak with heavy patina.