Old Masters gel stain

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

DH is making some window trim out of red oak and he wants to use Old Masters gel stain, he's worked with it before and likes it. I'm in charge of the color. He did a scrap piece in Dark Walnut and it's awful, kind of a blackish-brown that really emphasized the grain. I want something with a hint of warmth but not overtly red or orange. My floors are red oak in Duraseal Provencial, which I know has a green undertone.

Here's the piece of scrap trim DH stained with the Dark Walnut (no clear coat) -- awful !

This is in the ballpark of what I want the trim to look like -- is a custom door, reclaimed wood from a factory (? red oak), I think the woodworker used Minwax Provencial with a satin clear coat:

Here's the door against the floor:

The window trim is for different rooms, doesn't have to be exact but somewhere in the ballpark - and not blackish-brown.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Maybe a chart or descriptions of the undertones in the Old Masters gel stain?

Featured Answer

annettea

3 years ago

You may need to make your own custom blend. Here’s Old Masters 90% Special walnut and 10% Dark walnut mix on red oak column. If that’s too red for you, try mixing slightly more Dark Walnut.

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Comments (9)

annettea
3 years ago
Note that when you put polyurethane top coat on, the stain will get somewhat lighter.
porkchop_z5b_MI thanked annettea
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rwiegand
3 years ago
You'll probably get closer to your desired look with a dye rather than a pigment stain. At the dye stage you can add a bit of green to tame the red. Then if you want to bring up the grain apply a wash coat of ~1 lb cut shellac, then the walnut pigment stain on top of that. buff it with a rag to remove the pigment from most of the surface, but leave it in the pores. At the very end, if it is too red you can go over with a green toner, too green, with a red toner.

Old Masters makes very good pigment stains, but they seldom look good when applied to raw wood as the only step in the process. It's much easier to get to desired colors with dyes (I like the Transtint products), then use the pigment stains to bring up grain patterns. With either dyes or stains it's unlikely that it will have the right color or intensity out of the can or bottle, you need to test mixtures to get where you want.

It's critical to go through all of the finishing steps on your test boards, including the same sanding schedule. You can tell almost nothing about what your project will look like at the end by looking at a raw stained board; the color and appearance will change a lot.
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porkchop_z5b_MI
Original Author
3 years ago
So, he needs to sand and then topcoat before judging the color is what I think you're saying - ?
porkchop_z5b_MI
Original Author
3 years ago
Annettea -- that post is beautiful, and I love the paint color with it. What is the paint color you used?
annettea
3 years ago
It’s a custom color mixed into Benjamin Moore Aura gallon base:
Y3 0x 4.0000
S1 0x 2.2500
W1 2x 12.5000
O1 0x 0.1250
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G & S Floor Service
3 years ago
Stain poly and glaze will be your best option. The door looks like it is reclaimed wood. Which naturally has dark spots in it. Glazing will help you control where the dark spots are located for the right look.

As for the stain color, just use Provincial for a base since, that is a color you already like. Any other color will be too much red for your liking. No need to have headaches.
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rwiegand
3 years ago
Yes, you need to put the topcoat on to see what it really looks like; leave part undone on your sample so that you can see the difference.
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porkchop_z5b_MI
Original Author
3 years ago
I talked to DH, and he doesn't want to try dye, but he's willing to try again with wiping stain. I got small cans of Old Masters wiping stain in Provencial, Dark Walnut, and Special Walnut -- one of those should (hopefully) work or the 90:10 mix Anettea posted with the O.M. oil-based poly.