Furniture Stain Question

[flycasterjosh]

Howdy All,

Well, put myself in a bit of a dilemma. Thought those jokers at Ethan Allen would have stain to sell me that would match my current living room furniture, but they dont, nor are they wiling to suggest a manufacturer close to the color. You would think when you have spent enough at a place to buy a Honda Civic that they would give a bit better service, but what the heck.

So, what that leaves is a fairly experienced DIY guy, withi limited stain experience and a beautiful piece of unfinished furniture.

I would like to match the stand as close as possible, but dont even know what some of you have done in the past. Could some of you share the following:

1. What is the best type to use? Water. Poly, etc.

2. Have you ever mixed colors to get what you want?

3. Any other secrets, or resources that I have not been able to find yet?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

My Best,

Josh Moore

[kfowler]

Is all the wood in your current living room the same type? Stains typically look different from species to species. I know HD is pretty good on matching colored paint. I have no idea how they would be with stain. you could try some trial and error with scrap wood.

[flycasterjosh]

Hi Kevin,

Yeah, I called HD this morning and they cant match stains. I called Sherwin Williams and I guess that they can tint their current stains, so who knows if that will work. My stand is Birch, but the EA Dining set is Cherry. THe finish is really dark, almost a walnut, but has a red tint to it. I am not looking to match exactly, just enough so that it looks normal from accross the room.

I am guessing that I will have to just get some scrap, and start mixing. If you put more layers on does it just keep getting darker and darker?

[Sk8r]

Match the wood to match the stain. Oak stain on maple can look vastly different on pine.

If the wood differs, the color will differ. To match wood, if you haven't, you can veneer. This is not that hard to do. Go to a wood shop and look at what's available: most modern furniture is veneered, as is. All you need is an iron and some cutting precision.

You can mix colors of stains, but not types of stain, ie, oilbased, poly, etc.

To get a fine-furniture finish, I'd recommend oil-based, which is messy and smelly and very fussy to apply. Most stain is sprayed, these days. One of the really great problems of stain is overlap of application lines, and the resultant dark spot will persist...Stain and wipe is the method I've always used, except one piece where I used that stain-mixed-with-varnish stuff, which actually turned out pretty well, except a little glossy. Just remember, if you're using a wiping stain, you need long strokes the full length of the piece and overlap is a PITA. Never go in circles: what you see on Trading Spaces is horrible technique.

I would urge you get a piece and practice on it, and start on the inside of the cabinet before you attack the outside.