We’re building a small very open plan house therefore any unintentional mismatches in adjoining stain will be very apparent. We want the window trim, doors and kitchen cabs to match in stain color (will not paint) but are forced to use different woods e.g. clear white pine for the window casings (as supplied) and other trim whereas I plan to make the cabs out of 1/4 sawn red oak that SWMBO would like stained honey spice! She would give up on the hickory floors for red oak but that doesn’t seem to fix the basic challenge. Is it possible to stain pine with red oak and then honey spice? (and have it match). How do others solve this problem or are we faced with living with a palette of various finshed stain colors? I suppose I could make the cabs in white pine also but ……… hate to give up on the wonderful red oak. TIA
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You may want to post your question at the "Knots" forum--lots of woodworkers there. The only way I know is to get plenty of scraps of the wood you are using and do lots of tests. You can use wood dyes (not stains) along with (under) the stains to help get the right matches.
Another way might be to seal everything with shellac and then use polyurethane that has the stain color in it, so you are more or less painting (with a transparent film) all the wood the same color--but even there since this same color will be going over wood that ranges in color from very pale to darker, you may still see some variations in the final color.
I always go to a paint shop and have them match the stains. There is usually some guy there who is into it. I`m talking about a professional shop and not Home Depot.
Take samples of every wood you want stained and they will take care of it. The cost is very reasonable.
It is going to boil down to doing thirty to fifty samples of various stain combos on the different woods.
There was an article in either FWW or FHB about thrtee months ago giving some good background info on this subject.
Then - you are still going to have to settle for some amt. of compromise.
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home stead finishing is another alternative after knots, there a problem with white pine like alot of woods. that when stained there a splotchy effect, it happens alot with pine mahogany and cherry. to get an even finish there a thing called a w ash coat . i use a dewaxed shellac real important to make sure it 's de-waxed , zinsser makes a decent one, and take that and cut it down to a two pound cut ,that an increment used by weight portion's. out of the can it's around three pound cut. so add a third of denatured alcohol to a gallon(128 oz) so a third is.....around 42 oz. stir well and shake and put two coats on dry's real quick then do the samples with stain ...you are definitely have to futz with this... there are a whole so many diffrent recipes to stain /dyes. alcohol based, water based, aniline dyes, petro- based ( like good ole min-wax). that it get's confusing, and overwhelming. finishing is an art/and chemistry. and the real pro's see it in layers and steps. dont go over board with the wash coat all your trying to do is bring the wood to a consistent surface and absortion for the stain. there also stuff called glu-size that does the same thing. have fun and enjoy the process.... slainte' bear."expectations are premeditated resentments"
Edited 4/9/2005 10:29 pm ET by the bear
http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/phpBB2/index.php/c=1 these a professionals who like to help and enjoy spreading there knowledge around ... lke these forums .. good bunch oh yeah sand between each wash coat once 180 grit first coat , than 220 last coat ,than tack cloth it. preperation is 60%-70% of your overall time spent."expectations are premeditated resentments"