Matching Finish of existing Ash Kitchen Doors

[Martin]

Hi All,

I'm in a real pickle - I'm building some solid ash doors and draw-fronts to extend the kitchen we've recently put in. The original doors/drawer fronts are from B&Q - part of their Solid Ash range. To cut a long story short, we had to modify the larder unit to make it narrower in order to fit it in to a tight space, which of course means that the standard doors from B&Q will not fit, so I decided to make up some myself from American White Ash (well it seemed like a good idea at the time ).

Anyway, I'm at the stage of deciding how to finish these new doors, and of course want to produce something as close as possible to the finish on the existing doors/draw fronts. Now I know that colour matching like this is notoriously difficult, so have resigned myself to lots of trial and error using test peices, but so far I haven't found the magic combination...

The existing doors have a creamy/pink finish to them which is nothing like the finish I get on the Ash using standard products (e.g. sanding sealer, finishing oil etc). So I suspect that they've either been bleached or had some form of pastel wash applied. Here's what I've tried, but so far without finding the elusive match...

• * Grain filler prior to other fiinishes (which has a tendency to lighten the grain - close, but no cigar)
  * Wood bleach
  * Spirit stains from Chestnut - the white and red colour stains, used on their own and in various combinations (thinned and unthinned)

The closest I've got so far is with the Chestnut stain, but only in part. The stain takes most heavily to the darker parts of the growth rings in the grain (summer growth?) - the match in the sappier areas is just about perfect but the excess staining of the darker grain ruins the match.

As you'll have guessed, I'm cerrainly no expert in finishing, so any and all suggestions are most appreciated (even if its "give up now because it 'aint possible"). I'll try to post a picture of what I'm trying to achieve soon.

EDIT: Here's a photo of the existing doors....

Thanks,
Martin.

P.S. I haven't actually made up the new doors yet - I don't want to build them and leave them unfinished whilst I find the right combination (too much risk of movement).

 

[gavin e]

Hmmm. trying to talk about a colour match without having the piece to hold. Tricky.

The chances are that the doors you bought have been spray finished in a factory, so they can use various tricks to get an even colour across each piece. You, however, are always going to have the problem of the different areas of grain taking the stain at different rates, leaving you with very stripey doors.

Have you tried a water stain? Probably won't make any difference but worth a shot.

More awkward, but worth a go, will be to find a stain that is compatible with the finish you are using. Give the piece an initial coat of plain sealant, then mix up a batch of finish with some of your stain and apply this over the top. This should avoid the grain problem, but you need to be good with a paint brush to avoid brush marks and make sure you even out the colour. Don't forget that it's better to put too little stain in the mix and have to do this twice, than to have too heavy a stain mix.

Of course, if you are spray finishing the doors it'll be easier than with a brush.

Hope you find something that works.

gavin e

 

[Chris Knight]

Martin,
As you have discovered, ash is difficult to stain because of the grain producing "tiger stripes" - unless treated in some way. You have to stop the grain taking up excess stain and I think the only way to do this is to fill the grain first. I would do this using a water based finish, applying say three coats and after each, scraping back to bare wood (with a sharp cabinet scraper) so that the pores are filled with finish but the surrounding wood isn't. Then stain, lightly sand and seal with a white shellac before finishing with the water based stuff.

 

[Martin]

Gavin, Chris,

Many thanks for your suggestions - it all makes perfect sense now .

I think I'll try sealing the grain before applying the finish as you suggest (probably with both a grain filler and sanding sealer) - do you think that's overdoing it? Actually I have a cornice offcut from the kitchen (wood veneer, but finished in the same way as the doors) and so took a bit of sandpaper to it - I was able to get down to bare wood pretty easily so I think they must have sealed the ash before applying the colour wash over the top, as you've suggested.

So grain filler/sealer it is then. I've also decided on applying the stain using an HVLP spray gun - as you point out Gavin, that's clearly what they must have done to finish the existing doors so doing anything different will stand out a mile. It also gives me that bit more control over the amount of stain that's applied - the only problem being that I'm new to spraying!

I picked up one of Philly's bargain B&Q HVLP Spray Gun Kits over the weekend, and for practise put a coat of Cuprinol on the garden fence (long overdue) - certainly suprised SWMBO and the neighbours - what usually takes 3 hours was done in not much more than an hour.

Of course I need to be careful not to overdo it with the spray gun, but I'm hopeful that, as a result of sealing the wood first, I can cut back the stain with a bit of wet & dry if I overdo it.

Anyway, I'm much more confident that I have a way forward now - thanks once again.

Cheers,
Martin.

 

[Chris Knight]

Martin,

I think the combination of sanding sealer and a finish might be a little too much. But as is always recommended, do try on a scrap piece first.

In wood that is less aggressive in taking up stain in parts of the grain, one can control penetration by first wiping the wood with a wet sponge (if using water based stain) this way, the grain first accepts the clear water and has limited capacity to take up stain thereafter, which helps to even out the result.