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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 perhaps, 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 this randomness of color that naturally occurs and still keep the overall look - uniform in color.
Stain Matching
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.
With most people, this type of match is going to be acceptable, but with some it will not. Painters need to advise their customers of the variableness of woods, and that it is hard to control the exact color, and some rogue pieces are going to just come out different.
That is the simple way of staining, and for the painter, it is aggravation free and easy to do. Some customers expect perfect uniformity of color regardless of the fact that they have pine trim, oak doors and poplar hand railings (with a greenish cast). In such cases, you will need to 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 some introductory considerations.
In terms of universal colorants, it would be brown (burnt umber), orange (raw sienna - is gold actually, but mixed with burnt sienna you will get orange) and 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.
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...... All this 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 and 4) They have a good variety of standard colors.
I mix all my stain matches myself, I don't rely on the store people for this. 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.
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 with me on the job, some extra brown (Provincial, or some other brown), orange (Maple) and red (Mahogany), and in case I need to modify my the stain color to match better.
So, I will 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 1" "chip" brush and a 2" or 2 1/2" white china bristle brush in case the stain is too weak - I will brush the stain on instead of using a rag which will leave a heavier application of stain on the surface)
- and just in case I always have on the truck universal colorants including: Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, and Burnt Umber, but 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 will wipe the stain over a piece that just won't come out as orange or red or brown as 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 back track immediately and wipe Maple stain directly onto the odd piece to add extra orange to it and shade it over to a match with the rest of the trim. Do the same with the red and brown as needed to shade the rogue pieces back toward a good 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 then I would make a small batch of modified stain by pouring some of the pre-mixed stain into another container and then 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 you premixed stain to get the rogue pieces to blend in with the rest.
One final note: if you can't blend the piece over by staining "wet on wet", you will need to wait for the stain to dry completely (usually 24 hours) and 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 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 for that matter, 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 do 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.
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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) 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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Stain colors
When you examine stain charts or stained woods in your home, and look closely at the actual colors that comprise 90% of all stain work, you can quickly narrow down the colorants that are used to arrive at just about any stain color. You usually don't see blue, or green stained trim. 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.
