I went to HD yesterday and found that Minwax stains are no longer sold there. I drove up the street about 1/4 mile to the Pratt Lambert store and all they had was Quart or Gallon sizes. Not much help for my small project.  Then went to Lowes, almost across the street, and they did have the smaller Minwax cans on the shelf, but, they had a very limited selection of colors in stock, none that worked for me. Does anyone know where a broader selection of colors might be easily found.

I hear Walmart is selling General Finishes now and I use general stains,they are very good.

Herb

Al, I did not try H-D last week when I needed a small can of stain.  But I was very surprised at the lack of selection that I found at Lowes.  They did have more choices in quarts, but like you, I did not need a quart.

Reckon I will try Walmart next time to at least see what they might carry.

Might try Ace, too. The one close to me carries half pints.

Edited September 13, 20187 yr by Gene Howe

You know, I have noticed in the past decade or more, the finishes section in any big box store has dramatically declined in real-estate size, period, not a huge selection of anything really. Not only due to clean air regulations but I also chalk it up to a generation of adults who have no interest in arts and crafts and shop work, but are more apt to pull up a chair with a PS4 Playstation and or they'd rather buy a book shelf than make it. I fear our craft is dwindling in the world of the home hobbyist.

We have two lumber yards in our little town and they have all kinds of stains and dyes and stuff like that.. Never noticed the brand names though for I never buy any.

I think @John Morris hit it on the head with environmental concern. This is killing all the better finishes and all oil base may go away in time.

10 hours ago, Gerald said:

I think @John Morris hit it on the head with environmental concern. This is killing all the better finishes and all oil base may go away in time.

I truly miss our Oil Base finishes here in Kali. It's always been my own personal preference for finishes, just my thing you know. For me the water based just doesn't have that same warmth over time that oil finishes do.

Noooo, don't take away my Watco and varnish! They'll have to pry them out of my cold dead hands. 

Id' try Walmart. The GF products seem to be an online thing, the stores around me still stock a lot of Minwax. One other suggestion, try a Sherwin Williams store. They used to stock Minwax, they own the brand.

Fred, I did go to Sherman Williams. Quart sizes were the smallest they had. I still have about a half quart of Cabot Varnish and decided I will use that for my finish.

I spoke to soon when I said I would have to try Walmart next time, although I would like to see if they carry any GF stuff.

After I posted that I remembered that the last time I went to the local lumber yard for a half pint of stain they let me carry the sample board display home so that I could try and match the floor!  You don't get service like that at any big box that I know of...  Only problem with the local guys - they close at 5:00 during the week and early Saturday, like noon.  But I do like to do business with them.

On 9/14/2018 at 8:59 AM, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Id' try Walmart. The GF products seem to be an online thing, the stores around me still stock a lot of Minwax. One other suggestion, try a Sherwin Williams store. They used to stock Minwax, they own the brand.

I had to pick up another gallon of paint at SW and they had an extensive selection of the small cans on the shelf.

Strange...I was in Lowes earlier today.....full range of flavours and sizes in the Minwax lineup.....1/2 Pints, Quarts and gallon sizes...Lots of stain choices too...

 

May be worth a trip over there?   Maybe?

HD guy said another big paint company (Pitts?) bought Minwax, and the parent company was a Lowes-er.  You might try Infinity Stores (aka, Amazon).  Or maybe now is the time to switch to powder dye?  Lasts forever, make your own batch size?  Lockwood has a good deal on first-time purchases.

It was SW, and they are big buddies with Lowes.

SW bought Minwax a few years ago.   They recently also bought Valspar (one of the other top 10 finish manufacturers) recently.  Lowe's carried a lot of Valspar stuff and also carried SW stuff in the last few years.  IIRC, Varathane was taking over the Home Depot Minwax shelf space.  Varathane is a division of RPM (one of the other big ten) .   Most of the brands you are familiar with (with exception of General Finishes) are subsidiaries of these big guys.

 

https://www.pcimag.com/articles/103648-global-top-10-and-pci-25-top-paint-and-coatings-companies

4. RPM International Inc.

Medina, OH

330/273.5090

 

driven right by there dozens of times... 

On 9/13/2018 at 4:24 AM, Cal said:

Al, I did not try H-D last week when I needed a small can of stain.  But I was very surprised at the lack of selection that I found at Lowes.  They did have more choices in quarts, but like you, I did not need a quart.

Reckon I will try Walmart next time to at least see what they might carry.

Sherwinn williams sells minwax. That being said....try Sherwood classic stain. Much better product with more open time to rub it in and better performance over all.

 

 

Glad to hear from you Russ.    Drop back more often with photos of your work.   Roly