Applying stain

[OldWood]

I'm going to match up pine facings and skirtings with the natural colour that an elderly pine bar and batten door has gone - soft set honey colour (as good a description as any but being a bee keeper I should know that the colour of honey is dependent on the source !)

Anyway experimenting with the off the shelf spirit stains from B & Q I found that jacobean dark oak 'spirited' down 2:1 gave a quite satisfactory shade to the new wood. My question is what would be the best way to apply this stain.

And while I'm asking questions what would be the best finish. The door is unfinished and perhaps could do with something too - but what ?

Rob

 

[Chris Knight]

Spirit stains dry very fast and it is hard to apply them by hand without leaving lap marks. Spraying gives most control.

For small pieces you can flood on and wipe off the excess as you might with a water based stain but don't mix this approach with stain applied by spray because you will end up with different concentrations (&and thus colour).

You can mix a spirit based stain with suitable finishes (shellac and lacquer for example). I am not familiar with the B&Q one but as these stains often contain some proprietary stuff, be guided by what it says on the tin.