How do I match wood stain?

Question

I am replacing some wood trim in my house and need to match the stain color and want to know the best way to do that. I believe the trim is made of pine or birch.

Answer 1

First step in matching a stain color is matching the type and color of the natural wood being stained. After you have the wood you will need to do some testing for colors on the wood, a locally owned paint and stain store may be able to help you with the selection of product. They will want to see a piece that is stained. There are many different types of stains on the market the people will be able to help you find a stain that will work well for your trim. They may be able to tell you the finish on the old trim so you can start as close to the old as possible. A couple of warnings. If your using a clear top coat the sheen,gloss level, may not be achieved for a couple of weeks. After sanding people tend to use steel wool, not the stuff from the grocery store, to get that very fine finish. If you are using a water based stain I would not suggest you doing this as the water base would cause anything left in the wood to rust. Matching stains is not an easy job if you are aiming for the perfect match. You may have to visit several lumber yards in order to find the right color wood.

Good Luck

Answer 2

The floors in our new house are prefinished oak. The transfer strips and posts and rails around the stairs came unfinished. To match the floors we went to a paint specialists at the local lumber yard. She was able to mix stains and through trial perfectly matched our floor colour.

Answer 3

Color charts (pieces of wood with different colors of stain on them) are usually available at most hardware stores. (Places like Wal-Mart and K-mart don't carry them.)

Answer 4

chestnut brown