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Stain Matching

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#22 ·
pinwheel said:
Piece of cake. I hand it to my wife. She's got all the colors in the EZ stain system & has a good eye for colors. She paid attention in art class when they were teaching the color wheel.
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And there you go, understands color theory - You don't understand that, don't even try. Even after that it and with experience it's quite a journey, usually.
 
#23 · (Edited)
First, get a bunch of syringes so you can mix measured quantities of different stains. Then get a wood that's a decent match to what you'll be staining. Grab a stack of disposabke plastic cups and chip brushes.

Make up a numbered list of mixing samples and composition and number the cuos and test patch areas.

Mix all the cups, then stain all the test patches. Use each brush once.

Pray what you need is somewhere close to one if the messes you just made.

If the piece was stained and stripped, it's going to stain differently from your test wood.
 
Discussion starter · #24 ·
hdavis said:
First, get a bunch of syringes so you can mix measured quantities of different stains. Then get a wood that's a decent match to what you'll be staining. Grab a stack of disposabke plastic cups and chip brushes.

Make up a numbered list of mixing samples and composition and number the cuos and test patch areas.

Mix all the cups, then stain all the test patches. Use each brush once.

Pray what you need is somewhere close to one if the messes you just made.

If the piece was stained and stripped, it's going to stain differently from your test wood.
Click to expand...
Well what I've got going on is an area of water damage on the bottom of the side panel of the refrigerator cabinet. It's a custom cabinet, glued and clamped together so no good way to take it apart.

The plan is to do a dutchman repair on the bottom of the panel, veneer both sides, then stain and finish both sides.

The part that is pictured is the area of the side panel that met the base cabinets and they just didn't stain and finish that portion so I thought I'd try some samples on there.

I called SW today and they will match the stain for me. That is the route I will be going. As much fun as it would be to play chemist, I'm not going to pretend that's a skill I have and I'm not gonna waste money trying to acquire it right now.
 
#27 ·
The problem with matching by eye is not everyone sees colors the same way. Also, unless the actual tint material is the same in the original stain and the stain you are using, you may have an exact match in daylight or under LEDs, but not with some CFLs. Some CFLs put out relatively string light in orange bands, and little either side if them.

I've seen it a problem with paint, but haven't noticed it yet on stains I've used .
 
#31 ·
Sw matched a stain for me recently. It was perfect. Then I ran out. And the "code" they made for the original was nowhere near the same color when they made the second batch.

My store manager came out to the site with a bunch of tints and nailed it by hand.

i guess I'm a lucky one for my sw.
 
#34 ·
zukinut said:
What brand/type did you use to make that? Btw, I just followed you on ig. I hope that's ok.
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Typically, we use Old Masters stains. For this one we used our standby for spraying WoodSong by M.L. Campbell.

The more the merrier on IG. :thumbsup:
 
#37 ·
tjbnwi said:
I’ll never have Instagram, I get real paranoid when people follow me....

Tom
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I know. I show up on a job site here in IL and you up and move to CO.
 
#38 ·
I have an assortment of cans of stains, both stock and custom mixes I have collected over the years. I have been able to match 60% of what we need with those. The problem always seems to be having enough to do that particular job. And like Paul sometimes it takes hours and sometimes I get it on the first go.

I will often lay a base color and the top color to get the right look.
 
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