Sanding sealer and stain

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Tammy, a sanding sealer is a thin mix of a clear finishing product, usually a varnish, with a lot of "dusty" stuff, like talcum powder or Fuller's earth. It also can have some metallic drying agents that actually make it tough for additional layer of finish to stick to it.

Since you will be trying to stain over the clear finish, it will work but not nearly as well as staining wood. I suggest that you strip with a stripper that is not methyl chloride based (this is a kind of dangerous chemical to use, in my opinion) and not water based since that will raise the grain and may take a little more sanding for surface prep. This stripping should go VERY quickly since there will not be much finish on the surface. A quick hand sanding of the dried surface will have your wood ready to nicely accept stain. And, by the way, this info is good for common stain products, like the Minwax oil-based stains only. You would not need to strip for gel stain since those sit on top of the wood and the wood grain really doesn't show through much (that's why these are used on fiberglass and metal doors) or for true dye stains. Dye stains like to have a totally open wood surface and you would want to be really sure that the wood was open for them. Minwax oil-based stain is a combination of a dye and pigment stain and the pigment that you leave on the surface adds depth of color to the dye that's in the wood.

Henry in MI