Darkening A Pickle Stain

Alkyd

Does anyone have any ideas on how to darken a pickle stain. The entire house is a light "pickle" stain and the new home owners would to change it to a dark stain. Only idea I can come up with is to have the entire house retrimmed and start from there. Thanks

phinsher

There is always the option of glazing over the pickled finish. It might not be exactly what they were looking for, but can give them an attractive finish at a much lower price than replacing the trim.

You could always try stripping the trim, but I've never had much luck stripping installed trim.

Is the existing pickled trim clear coated? This probably won't work, but if it's not clear coated maybe try just applying a darker stain over it.

Alkyd

Yes it has a clear coat. What do you think of a tinted clear coat?

phinsher

yeah, that would/could work too. you should make a few samples and see what they think.

Woz the Painter

I've tinted varnishes many times to darken the existing stain color with both good and bad results. It works well if your not trying to go extremly darker. When going much darker the tinted varnish gets muddy and uneven looking.