Staining pine

[Woodbear]

I need to stain new pine flooring to match the honey colour of the 100year old pine flooring. Can anyone recommend the best colour/brand for matching the two?

[Cruzi]

Feast Watson Old Baltic Pine Stain, probably 2 coats

An oil based stain specially formulated to reproduce the aged Baltic look on unsealed pine timber. Semi-transparent, Feast Watson Old Baltic Stain will enhance the natural grain and beauty of the timber. Ideal for use on new interior pine timber, particularly floors and furniture, where a Baltic pine appearance is desired.

Another Option is Wattyl Nordic Teak Stain, but sand the pine to around 400 grit, wipe on, wipe off and wipe again with turps after an hour or so.....

Very wasteful and fiddly way of doing it pic shows a chest/box done with above method

[RufflyRustic]

It might be fiddly, but it's definitely worth the great result!

cheers
Wendy

[bpj1968]

Depends on the colour variation in the old timber. You might want to consider a tinted poly/varnish. Pine soaks up stain by differnet amounts depending on the density as highlighted in the above picture. tinted finsh will give a more consistant colour change. Again, depends on the old timber

[Cruzi]

Depends on the colour variation in the old timber. You might want to consider a tinted poly/varnish. Pine soaks up stain by differnet amounts depending on the density as highlighted in the above picture. tinted finsh will give a more consistant colour change. Again, depends on the old timber

You are correct about there being different amounts of stain taken up by timber, should point out that a lot of the colour variation in above box was deliberate, wanted an instant "old" look.

The Feast Watson does not have that problem at all, it imparts an even tone all over. Doing a spice rack for a person, did it with one coat of the baltic and it looks ok, if a little light, if trying to match up to old timbers a 2nd coat would have been a must.

[astrid]

I've just remembered '
washing down new pine with ordinary washing soda will usually darken it a few degrees and look natural.
problem is if you've already fixed the boards, washing it off and drying the timber pre finish could be a problem.

astrid

[astrid]

another question
if your original boards are old they may be baltic pine
we had to replace a baltic floor(borer)
we used new baltic and after about 5 years it has aged quite dramaticaly just from natual sunlight.
if you are willing to wait it will blend in itself
I dont know if radiata does the same thing
old houses have to age. if you stain new timber now will the aging process make it too dark in 15years?
maybe someone can advise?

astrid

[MacS]

A trick that is used on pine and other woods that easily blotch, is too first apply a thin clear coat or two like shellac to seal the wood, and then sand the sealer, and then apply your stain, the seal coats will prevent the stain from pentrating down into the wood, so there is no blotching.

Always do a complete sample on the same wood, so you can see the final results.

[munruben]

A trick that is used on pine and other woods that easily blotch, is too first apply a thin clear coat or two like shellac to seal the wood, and then sand the sealer, and then apply your stain, the seal coats will prevent the stain from pentrating down into the wood, so there is no blotching.

Thats a good tip and it works.

[Larry McCully]

There is a very succesfull method of staining. "Urathane coatings" have a very good stain.02 99053283. Give mark a call and ask the question on the ratio of colours to get a close match.You can get his product where you live. Ask him for suppliers.

[MacS]

John,

Thank you, here is another one that might work, the last dilution looks fairly close, but they are photos and photos can be very deceiving.

I use this chart as one of my teaching tools for matching colors.

The main color is "Van Dyke Brown" a basic colorant that every paint store would use for mixing their colors. Just by diluting the VDB you can get many other colors, then the manufacturers will give each color a name and thats how they increase their color line.

I hope it helps.

MacS

[Woodbear]

Thanks to all for the good info. The existing timber is hoop pine and are honey in colour from age. The house was built in 1927 so I would imagine that is the life of the boards. The new boards are the typical white colour that pine tends to be. Waiting for age to take it's course would not be an option in this case.

[MacS]

You might want check out the different colors of flake Shellacs.

Shellac was commonly used in that era on pine and many other woods, check out the orange /amber colored Shellac. that was very popular There are other colors that you may want to add together with the orange to further age the color.

THIS CHART IS USED BY PERMISSION FROM ZINNZER SHELLAC

[SilverSniper]

I've recently coated a pine table frame (legs and rails) using advice on this thread. I used Feast Watson Sanding Sealer ( 2 coats) and 1 coat of Feast Watson Old Baltic Pine Stain. It looks pretty good, imo, although I'll probably put on another coat of stain to darken it, (and in hindsight I should have only used one coat of sealer).

I was after some advice on a top coat. Because its only pine, I'm not after something too fancy like a wax which will be way too much work and probably won't have much visible effect. I'd like a satin or gloss finish which will also be waterproof and stain proof. Any suggestions?

[MacS]

"I'd like a satin or gloss finish which will also be waterproof and stain proof."

You could use either Varnish or Polyurethane on the floor.