hey guys,i got a tough one for you.ive got a house that was built in the 30s and has two different wood flooring,maple in half of the living room and the other half is fir,in the kitchen the maple from the living room runs into fir that is in the kitchen and also in the bedroom.now,i just finished sanding and stripping the old stain and finish off the floor and as you can imagen a floor that old needs some wood filler here and there.my question is how do i apply the stain to the floor and have a consistant coulor? because we all know that the maple is gonna come out lighter than the fir is.i would put a clear coat on it and that actually would be best to do since the two woods are similar in colour,but i dont know if the clear coat will hide the wood filler(which is quite visible right now,its mainly in wide cracks between boards and nicks and scratches).im hoping it will hide it with about 3 or 4 coats but i dont wanna put the clear on to find out that you can see the wood filler.
any ideas would be great thanx
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as Buddha said to the hotdog vendor .... "make me one with everything"
You may try posting your question at Knots (woodworking site) as well as here. I was thinking that using dye under the stain, at least on the maple, would help even out the color. As you say, the hard maple will not take stain all that well, but the dye should work, and the dye might color the filler too. The woodworkers should know. Then stain after the dye has dried. The two working together can give some excellent results--I've used both on furniture and liked the results.
What filler did you use? I hope it takes a stain comparable to the wood. Assuming that you could leave the maple a grit rougher than the fir plus use a wood conditioner on the fir. As such the rougher maple will receive more of the stain while the fir will stain more evenly. Dye would work but if you're not proficient with it it can be difficult to get an even dye job over such a large area. Another option is to stain and lay one coat of clear. Then tone the finish to match. Add some stain to the clear and apply to the lighter areas to bring the hues closer. You can darken not lighten so start with a stain a few shades lighter than the desired result. Tone the lighter areas then lay another coat of clear. Now stain the whole thing a touch darker to get to the desired shade. Then clear again.
If you want a honey shade to finish the challenge is greater. The tough part with a floor is that you don't have much room for experimentation...I'm sure where the two woods abut is in the open and very visible. You can try a stain color on a spot under the sofa and under something else and compare. You can then stain one wood with a tone, mask it and stain the other wood with a different tone to get them even. Good luck and post a pic with the results!
Test on scrap
i would dye the wood first. use a filler that will take a stain or mix sawdust, glue and dye to match the color of the woods. I would use transtint liquid dye in denatured alcohol.
hope that helps.
David
http://WWW.darbynwoods.com
Will the alcohol dry slow enough on a floor so you can keep a wet edge going and make for an even dye job? I use it on furniture and it keeps me hopping and skipping.
it all depends on you. if you have an issue with dry time than i would use the water solabale dye.
david