Minwax Throwdown with Too Much Time

 I use Minwax products ALL the time. They are my go to product for wood stain and their water based polyurethane may be my favorite thing on Earth. So when The lovely folks over at Minwax sent me a goodie box full of their products, I decided to branch out and give a couple of new products a chance at playing in my starting lineup.

Let's make this interesting and fun now, shall we?

Does anyone watch Food Network? I am a  total junkie and Bobby Flay is like my absolute favorite. I have a total crush on him and adore his shows and cookbooks. 

On his show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, he travels all over the country challenging the best cooks to a cookoff. 

(When I was pregnant with my daughter and watching the hot wing Throwdown, my lovely husband was forced into going out to find me wings at 10 pm on a Tuesday night- good man).

I have never used these 2 Minwax products and decided I would give them a shot on two pallet shelves I just cut from the very same pallet. We will see which one wins with the very first...

Yay!

In the right corner we have Minwax Polyshades- Stain and polyurethane in 1 Step

 and in the left corner we have Minwax Water Based Wood Sheen-Rubbing Stain and Finish

 Both of these products are supposed to be time savers, with the stain and finish in 1 step. I am using them on two shelves created from the same pallet wood, just so we have an even playing field!

I started with the Wood-Sheen and was excited to see it was water based so I could clean up with soap and water and didn't need to drag out the mineral spirits. 

I began by shaking the bottle and applying it with a cloth as the directions suggested. it is thick, which made spreading easy and drips non-existant. However, my cloth kept getting snagged on the wood and I switched to a paintbrish application which worked much better for me. 

It soaked into the wood really fast (which could be a good or bad thing depending on the artist) and was creamier and thicker than I was anticipating. The color was deep after just one coat. And it really did dry after just one hour. Like super dry and I could sand it and handle it with no stickiness or mess. 

It looked pretty good and the Plantation Walnut color I used was nice, but I think this product would work better and go on smoother with a very smooth piece of wood. Even though I sanded this shelf, it was still nubby and beat up and it was difficult to get this product into all the nooks and crannies. I also think it looks more like paint than stain, which might work for you depending on the look you are going for.

Now, back to the Polyshades in the right corner. I shook up that can to get the color stain to mix well with the polyurethane. I applied this with a brush as the directions suggested and it went on really nicely, even over my not so smooth wood. The Olde Maple Satin color is rich and warm, but still light.

This thinner product was way easier on this shelf, but I did drip some on my shirt (dang it-why do I wear good clothes when doing stuff like this?). This did take the full 8 hours to dry, and if you are impatient like some people around here that is a very bad thing. However, when it was dry, just the one coat was perfect for the look I was going for. I sanded and roughed it up a bit and like the matte finish on the piece.

So, who won....what do you think?

Both products have huge benefits and were great to work with producing fabulous results, but I think I am sticking with the Minwax Polyshades Stain and Polyurethane in 1 Step. Now, they just need to make me a water based version so I can forgo those mineral spirits all together.

Super big thanks to the nice people over at Minwax for sending me a big bunch of goodies.
Pssst......I have some extras they sent me to give you to you folks!
I am planning a big big big giveaway when I make it to 1000 followers and you will see some Minwax booty then!