Posted by Bill Epstein [ 12.75.71.152 ] on July 22, 2005 at 16:09:24:

In Reply to: Matching Colour with Wood posted by GarMan on July 21, 2005 at 15:53:03:

First, the marketing dep't. folks at Minwax or Bartley's or whatever call a color a color.
I just finished staining some Poplar horns Walnut with Minwax Chestnut! It's redder. Or I could have used their Walnut but it's too dark.
What you really have stain for is 2-fold:
one, to blend or eliminate the contrast 'tween heartwood and sapwood, and, two, to acheive an aged 'patina' type coloration.
Or perhaps three, you just want some purple pine.
Cherry has a strong contrast bewteen the light and dark, heartwood and sapwood a lot of people find objectionable. Stain removes the contrast.
Cherry also darkens with age. Stain gives father time a kick in the ass.
Go to Depot or Lowe's or any kitchen cabinet dealer and look at the various wood cabinet displays. You will find 4 or 5 'colors' of cherry from natural thru uniform medium to dark and obscured grain that looks like plastic.
Only the commercial oil stains have these names and they only vaguely resemble the color of the wood.
Dye stains like Transtint also have wood names: I just bought 'Red Mahogany' to stain Pacific Alder Cherry. Yeah, really!

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