HOW TO MATCH COLOUR OF FINISHED WOOD 0 For a Novice

[AndyRoo64]

I am restoring an old timber outdoor table and needed to replace a length of wood. I was not sure what type of timber it was, and so used Merbau as it was a similar colour to the aged wood. I have sanded the table back, and it is now very apparent that the old timber (dont know what it is) is much lighter when next to the Merbau piece.

I have applied Cabots Decking Oil to the old timber, and it looks a very similar colour to the Merbau. However, when I applied the Oil to a scap piece of Merbau, it is quite clear that the oil is really going to bring out the merbau colour to a darker shade.

My wish is to somehow, keep the Merbau close to its unfinished colour to be similar to the Finished old timber. Any ideas to what I can finish the Merbau with that wont change its colour too much.

It is the board that is second from right that is Merbau (unfinished) and the other boards have the decking oil applied, and the second picture has a scrap piece with decking oil applied.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Andrew

[elanjacobs]

Any ideas to what I can finish the Merbau with that wont change its colour too much

Finishes will always darken the timber because they change the way light is reflected. There might be a polyurethane finish that will darken it less (being clear, as opposed to oil which has its own colour), but anything you use will still darken it to some extent. Unfortunately, physics has a way of always getting its way

[Lappa]

If you wash the merbau down with a napisan mixture, it will take out the tannin and lighten it considerably. Maybe try that.

[AndyRoo64]

And so you are suggesting Napisan to lighten it, and then apply the finish ie Decking Oil? Have you tried this approach yourself?

[AndyRoo64]

Is it ok to use the clear polyurethane over the recently applied decking oil?

[Lappa]

And so you are suggesting Napisan to lighten it, and then apply the finish ie Decking Oil? Have you tried this approach yourself?

my outdoor table is built from with a Merbau frame. I used “wash- away” (does the same job as napisan) to remove the tannins and was surprised how light it dried. I then used Organoil Outdoor oil to finish it, and it’s close to, although slightly browner than the original colour.

the timber on the left is the Organ oiled table Leg and the timber on the right is untreated Merbau.

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The table has had a number of oiling over its life time but it doesn’t seem to get any darker.

[AndyRoo64]

Yes thats quite compelling, and worth a try
Thanks for sending the photo which shows it clearly. Might give it a try.