Trying to match a yellowy/ orange oak finish

[Ziggy2012]

Hi all,

I'm repairing a table for someone who has some matching chairs as part of the set. The original pieces are 10/15 years old and have coloured significantly in the sun. I've tried a whole bunch of samples trying to get somewhere near the yellow/orange that the pieces now are, however don't seem to be able to get close.

Does anyone have any suggestions on options I could try?

Attached is a picture of an unfinished piece vs the original I need to match to. Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Van Dyke brown (VDB) dye, aka walnut dye, plus yellow and red dye, all dissolved in water as the solvent. Use extremely dilute Van Dyke brown e.g., start at about 20 ml of VDB per 500 ml of solvent and increase/decrease proportions from there. If necessary, add a smidgen of yellow and or red to warm up the result a bit. Test mixture on oak scraps. Once you've got the base about right use a non yellowing clear coat over the top. Your sample piece doesn't have pigment stain on it, so don't go there; stick to dye. Slainte.

 

[niall Y]

Try a Yew stain, I find this works quite well for giving things a yellower look. At the risk of stating the obvious, you can intermix stains from the same range to get the exact colour you need, as well as thin them down with a suitable solvent.
I recently used Light Oak+ Yew, to match an edge veneer..

 

[Cabinetman]

A trick I found when repairing Ercol light coloured furniture which is pretty close in colour to your sample is to use Button Polish, yes it’s French Polish but it can just be dabbed on and rubbed with a rag, or use a soft paintbrush. Rustins do Button Polish I believe.
Ian
Ps welcome, pls let us know what worked for you, and we love photos.

 

[Agent_zed]

Your sample piece doesn't have pigment stain on it, so don't go there; stick to dye.

out of interest what is the difference? Is a stain where it is in the finish rather than actually soaking into the wood?

I wondered if the colour would come off the old piece if the finish is scrapped off, i.e. it is a coloured varnish

 

[recipio]

+1 for the yew stain. A spirit stain is best sprayed on and the colour darkens a little with every coat. Just be careful to keep away from naked flames. Chestnut do small spirit stain packs which saves you buying the usual 5 liter can.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

out of interest what is the difference? Is a stain where it is in the finish rather than actually soaking into the wood?

I wondered if the colour would come off the old piece if the finish is scrapped off, i.e. it is a coloured varnish

Dye, typically sold as 'stain' in the UK is molecular. The molecule that provides the colour dissolves in its appropriate solvent (water, oil or spirit) and when applied to the wood the colour binds with the wood fibre.

Pigment stain typically includes a dye, as above, but also contains solid pigment that doesn't dissolve, plus a binder, often linseed oil. It's most common for pigment stains to use an oil solvent such as white spirit. The idea with with pigment stains is that the dye binds with the wood fibres as above, but the pigment lodges in the open pores of wood, which is why this type of colourant is typically used on ring porous (coarse textured) or semi ring porous (medium textured) woods such as oak, ash, walnut, mahogany, etc and not on diffuse porous fine textured woods such as maple, cherry, etc.

Pigment stain is not coloured varnish and you won't scrape the pigment deposited in the open pores of coarse/medium textured woods if you scrape the finish above the stain off. There are, however, stain varnishes such as Sadolin's range of finishes that are in my mind really a thin paint meaning it takes application of two or three coats of their stain varnish before the underlying wood grain and wood colour are mostly invisible. Slainte.

 

[Ziggy2012]

Thanks so much all for the suggestions so far. Incredibly helpful. Will give all options a go and report back. What started as a small project has inevitably turned into something that is taking far longer than I anticipated...!

 

[johnnyb]

The way it's achieved professionally is maybe slightly counterintuitive. You would certainly start with a similar colour dye stain(say Morrells light fast light oak and medium oak)
But it must end up slightly lighter even if the tone is slightly off. At that point refer to a colour wheel and then you tint the lacquer to swing it one way or the other to yellow add a smidge of purple/blue. To red a touch of green etc. Quality Powder pigments can also be used here. Sounds mind boggling but is actually reasonably straightforward. Note it must start lighter because it will rapidly go to dark.

 

[Ziggy2012]

Hi all, thanks again for your suggestions, after about 150 samples I've now finally completed the repairs and got it back home.

I found using VDB and adding drops of red and yellow dyes gave me the best results from what I tried. I ended up with a match that you wouldn't spot unless you were very deliberately looking.

 

[HOJ]

Nice job, and equally nice smart looking workshop.

 

[Lefley]

Van Dyke brown (VDB) dye, aka walnut dye, plus yellow and red dye, all dissolved in water as the solvent. Use extremely dilute Van Dyke brown e.g., start at about 20 ml of VDB per 500 ml of solvent and increase/decrease proportions from there. If necessary, add a smidgen of yellow and or red to warm up the result a bit. Test mixture on oak scraps. Once you've got the base about right use a non yellowing clear coat over the top. Your sample piece doesn't have pigment stain on it, so don't go there; stick to dye. Slainte.

Wow, I just looked at richard jones furniture, beautiful stuff!

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Wow, I just looked at richard jones furniture, beautiful stuff!

Oh! I wasn't expecting that comment which came from nowhere as far as I can tell, but that's very kind of you. Many thanks. But bear in mind that over the years I've also made a lot of stuff I was very happy to not photograph: just make it, get paid, next job please, ha, ha. Slainte.