Getting a good stain match is not quite the same as matching with paint. Paint is opaque and totally hides the surface underneath. Stain is transparent and the surface underneath adds to the finished appearance.
Adding to the equation is the variableness of the underlying wood to be stained. Some pieces of trim will want to stain with a red cast, for instance, and other pieces will take on a grayer cast. This is the beauty of stain work and the frustration of it.
The goal in staining is to control the randomness of color that naturally occurs and still keep the overall look uniform in color.
Stain matching - the usual way.
Stains are usually matched away from the job, at the local paint store. Often a cabinet door or a piece of trim with the desired stain color already on it is brought in to the store, along with a piece of unfinished wood . The paint store will start with a stain base, or stain color, and add universal colorants to tweak out the stain match, using the piece of unfinished wood stock that was brought in as a test piece.
Incrementally, the colorants are added, then a swatch is wiped on the test piece and compared to the finished sample for a visual match. This process is repeated with a little bit of trial and error until an acceptable stain match is achieved.
For most people, this type of match is going to be acceptable, but with some it will not. Painters need to advise their customers about the variableness of woods, informing them that it is hard to control the exact color and that some rogue pieces are just going to come out different.
That is the simple way to stain match, and, for the painter, it is aggravation-free and easy to do. However, some customers expect perfect uniformity of color regardless of the fact that the job they are staining may have pine trim, or may have oak doors and poplar hand railings (with a greenish cast). In such cases, one must take a different approach to staining than the usual "I put on the same stain that you approved and this is how it came out" approach. I will explain how I match and blend stain for wood finishing jobs, but first read over a few introductory considerations.
Brown, orange and red
Armed with this knowledge, stain-matching becomes easy. It’s just a matter of balancing these three colors for the most part. Knowing this, I can be confident that I can bring a mismatched piece back to the desired color. If, while applying my pre-matched stain, a piece of trim strays off color (it may be either too brown, too orange, too red or not enough orange or red etc…), I know it can be corrected by counter-balancing with more of the color that is missing or less of the color that is too strong.
Minwax Stains
I use Minwax stains because: 1) They are very transparent and don't block out the wood grain as some other brands do. 2) They are widely available. 3) They come in small quart or pint size cans. 4) They have a good variety of standard colors.
I mix all my stain matches myself rather than relying on store-employees. I do all my stain matches by intermixing Minwax standard colors (this is why the quart and pint sizes are important). The real key to matching your stain this way is to try to get your match by mixing only two or three standard colors together to arrive at your custom stain match. You will need to remember the proportions of each stain color used to make your match in case you need to duplicate your mix if you run short. Simply make a note that your mix is "two parts Provincial, one part Maple and a half part Mahogany"—or whatever the case may be.
Once I have my stain matched to my color sample piece (on a piece of wood that is of the same species of wood that I will be using the stain on), then I am ready to proceed with the staining of the actual project. I will also have some extra brown (Provincial or some other brown), orange (Maple) and red (Mahogany) with me on the job in case I need to modify the stain color for a better match.
This way I come to the job brimming with confidence, knowing that I can match anything that comes my way and satisfy even the most demanding customer, armed with:
- My pre-matched stain
AND
- Maple stain (Orange)
- Mahogany stain (Red)
- Brown stain, which will be the brown used to make my original stain color (in this case, for example, "Provincial")
ALSO
- Clear stain base (if the stain is too strong I can thin it with this)
- Stain brushes (a one-inch chip brush and a two or two-and-a-half-inch white china bristle brush in case the stain is too weak, in which case I will brush the stain on, instead of using a rag, which will leave a heavier application of stain on the surface of the wood)
- And, just in case, I always have universal colorants in my truck, including: Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber and Burnt Umber—although I seldom have to resort to using them
Getting Started
Blending
I stain almost all stain jobs in place, that is, the trim work is installed and attached to the wall. The door casings are up and nailed in place on the wall etc...
In the normal course of events, while staining the trim you may wipe the stain over a piece that just won't come out as orange or red or brown as the majority of the other trim. When this happens, I simply re-wipe the orange (Maple), red (Mahogany) or brown (Provincial in this case) directly over the piece that I just stained with the right color stain (red, orange or brown) needed to blend it in with the rest. So, if my odd piece is not orange enough, I will backtrack immediately and wipe Maple stain directly onto the odd piece to add extra orange to it and shade it over so that it matches with the rest of the trim. Do the same with the red and brown as needed to shade the rogue pieces back toward a well-blended match with the rest.
Mixed woods
If you have just a few pieces of wood to stain that are a different species from the rest (for example, an oak hand railing when the rest of the trim package is pine), you can use this same procedure. If the oak is staining a bit too orange, follow up your initial staining by re-wiping over the top with your brown to tone the orange down.
If you have a lot of wood that is of a different species, I would make a small batch of modified stain by pouring some of the pre-mixed stain into another container and adding the color lacking or needing to be strengthened.
To sum up the blending procedure:
You want to stain your trim and blend as needed as you go by directly adding red, orange or brown over top of your premixed stain to get the rogue pieces to blend in with the rest.
One final note: if you can't blend a piece over by staining "wet on wet," you will need to wait for the stain to dry completely (usually 24 hours), then re-wipe the remaining rogue pieces again with the right toning color to finish the blending process.
Too dark, too light
If you run into a piece of trim that is more porous than the rest, it will take the stain much darker and probably more gray or brown than the rest. If this happens you can wipe a lot of the stain out by scrubbing the surface with a scouring pad, dampened with mineral spirits (for oil based stains), then wiping the stain off. (Use caution with rags, etc. soiled with wood stain and thinner, as they can become spontaneously combustible. Hang these rags up on a clothes line apart from each other to dry out. Do not clump these rags together, as they can give off enough heat to start themselves on fire.)
If the stain is too light, you have two options: 1) Apply the stain with a brush rather than a rag. Brush application is heavier than rag application, and this usually does the job. 2) If it is still too light after brush application, wait for the stain to dry completely (usually 24 hours or more) and re-apply your stain to the whole surface.
Stain colors
When you examine stain charts or stained woods in your home and look closely at the actual colors that comprise 90 percent of all stain work, you can quickly narrow down the colorants that are used to arrive at just about any stain color. Obviously, you usually don't see blue or green stained trim. And if you set aside white washed or pickled wood, you will notice that almost all stained woods are really just shades of brown, orange and red. The different stain colors come from managing the amounts of each of these colorants in the mix.
In terms of universal colorants, most stains are made up of brown (burnt umber), orange (raw sienna—which is actually gold but, mixed with burnt sienna, will produce orange), red (burnt sienna) and maybe a bit of gray (raw umber). Most stain colors (and wood graining colors) can be mixed from these tints into a clear stain base or glaze, as is the case with wood graining.
Understainding Wood Finishing
All aspects of staining and wood finishing is addressed in by the author Bob Flexner. One of the best "how to" books on the subject of wood finishing - at any price. See Understainding Wood Finishing
Stain Matching
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** Note: It is advisable to use protective gloves if you will be staining with a rag which will serve two purposes: 1)it will keep the stain off your hands and from under your finger nails making clean up easier. 2) it helps to prevent any contact dermatological conditions which could result from skin contact with the stain.
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