Replies

1. 
   Splintie | Mar 26, 2002 05:54am | #1

   Sounds like one of those horrible jobs...

   Is she trying to match actual walnut wood? If so, the pine grain will never look even similar to it, no matter how dark you get it. And what a sacrilege! But the closest i think you'll come without springing for walnut is birch (for subtle grain) with a couple coats of dark walnut stain, or *gasp* one of the one-step polyurethane finishes with the stain mixed in. With those, you can keep painting it on, until it's black, if you want.  

1. 
   Davo304 | Mar 26, 2002 06:46am | #3

   Barry gave you some good advice.

   Staining pine without first putting on a thin sealer coat will simply give you a blotchy look.  To simulate walnut, we use Poplar. The grain of poplar will look very much like walnut and poplar stains very well. Infact, in my neck of the woods, poplar is referred to as being a "poor man's walnut", no kidding.

   Poplar can be a bit on the greenish side in color, so if you go with poplar, personally check all the boards for similar color. Poplar can also have a reddish hue, therefore, which ever hue you go with, make sure all are similar, otherwise your staining colors won't match up from piece to piece.

   If you go with pine, then you need to seal the wood with a thin down coat of shellac first. Thin it 50/50 and put 2 coats on. This will help keep wood from blotching. Use of dyes are good if you know how to use them. Otherwise, stain with a color as close as possible. You can add oil base artist paints in with an oil base stain to blend your color, or you can add several oil stains together to obtain blend.

   To give you an idea of how blotchy your pine can be, simply wet a piece down with mineral spirits or even water(though water will take longer for wood to dry out). As soon as wood is wetted,the grain patterns will "pop" out at you. Areas that absorb more of the liquid will appear darker, indicating  the blotches.  Whatever the grain looks like when first wetted down, this is pretty much how it will look when stained (as far as blotches is concerned).

   LOL.

   Davo

   Davo

1. 
   evets2001 | Mar 26, 2002 09:26am | #4

   I am going to see her tomorrow.  That was interesting that you can get pine that dark.  Going with Poplar/Birch will do a much better job in this case.  Of course she might have real Walnut.  I'll see tomorrow.    Going to see another lady next week who said, you don't need to match the other stained wood.  RIGHT!!!          Thanks for the info.

2. 
   BarryE | Mar 26, 2002 06:14am | #2

   Are you trying to match walnut in the house or walnut in general?

   You can get it dark enough, but as SG mentioned, the grain will be a problem. The birch or maybe even poplar might work better.

   On the pine you would need to washcoat it before staining. You may need to mix some stains to get the right color. You could also try dyes.

   After you put a sealer over the stain you can also use toner to get the final match.

   There are many ways to get close. Make up some samples and have them okayed before starting.

   You could also use walnut for the trim. <G>

   Barry

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