The claim: Minwax Wood Finishing Cloths are premoistened with a water-base wood stain and protective clear finish in a variety of rich wood tones. The new cloths package contains all the product you need to stain and protect unfinished wood — up to 50 square feet. Each package also contains a pair of gloves to wear during application. After sanding the wood smooth and removing any sanding dust, simply wipe on the stain, then wipe off the excess with a clean cloth. The stain dries in just one hour, and cleanup is soap-and-water easy. The cloths are available in five colors: Natural Oak, Maple, Chestnut, Walnut and Dark Mahogany.
Cost: $9
Where: Hardware and home-improvement stores
The Minwax Wood Finishing Cloths seemed like a great solution for taking care of an unfinished door my husband and I didn't care to take off its hinges. The cloths were durable and relatively saturated with stain. However, it took almost a whole package of the cloths to cover one side of the door, with a few left that will definitely be needed for evening the color.
The cloths were a real knuckle-buster. The door had grooves and grain going in different directions; it was necessary to use a little elbow grease and a few passes to ensure the stain penetrated the entire sanded surface. It was much harder to control the application with the cloths on a project of this size than it would have been with a brush.
The provided gloves fell apart toward the end of the job. The dark mahogany we tried was about the shade I expected but not dark enough to match the wood in the rest of the room. A second or third package of cloths might do the trick, but that wouldn't be economically practical.
These might be good for a small project or for touching up other projects. But it would be cheaper, faster and more precise to go the old-fashioned way on larger projects.
I had my resident staining expert, my dad, test out the Minwax Wood Finishing Cloths. He reports that the natural oak color didn't seem to make much of a color impact on pine or oak boards, although multiple coats might have improved this.
The cloths also were quite messy, even using the plastic gloves that come with the package. But for small jobs, particularly for people who haven't done much staining, the cloths might be effective.
I'm not handy enough to seriously stain and varnish furniture, but I tried the Minwax Wood Finishing Cloths on a large window sill in a kitchen greenhouse window that gets a lot of wear and tear. The wood had been stained and varnished previously, but was in need of a touch-up.
The cloths are perfect for this kind of job, no prying open cans of stain and varnish, avoiding dripping stain, finding fresh paintbrushes (I seem to need to buy a new one with every little project).
I like the fact that plastic gloves are included, although I will need a few more before I use up the entire package. I also appreciate being able to clean up with soap and water. Easy peasy!
