Light Oak woodstain? More like orange gloss!

[Watshot]

Bit of a novice error I'm afraid. Trying to do a decent job on some new pine garage doors, and whilst I appreciate that they are never going to fool anyone, I thought that a satin light oak woodstain might look kind of 'light oak' coloured as opposed to the shiney orange effect I have achieved.

Fortunately all is not lost as I tested on the reverse side first which will only upset the car rather than the wife's sensibilities. Shame about the £20 odd tin of stain probably heading for the bin. Not very environmental is it?

Any suggestions as to whether a durable light oak type colour can be achieved on pine would be very much appreciated, and any ideas where to donate lots of unloved woodstain?

Many thanks.

 

[delmel]

id try a ronseal wipe on stain, then either a colur or plain varnish on top depending on what your thoughts after the stain goes on (more layers = more colour change)

I am no expert but that has worked for me (and i know its hard to get a nice colour on pine) using a straight varnish

 

[Watshot]

Thanks for that delmel, it had crossed my mind to try something like that, I'll look into it. Cheers.

 

[Robbie uk]

The thing with stains is that eveyone thinks that the colour on the tin will be the colour on the wood. It just doesnt work like that. If the wood is pine this is generally a yellow wood. Best thing is , as mentioned a Ronseal or Colron wood stain that can be wiped on or used with a brush.
On pine, American oak works quite well, ( Colron ). then several coats of a satin polyurethene varnish to finish.
Some times you need a totally odd colured stain to acheive the colour you want. you can always go darker but you cant make dark wood lighter.

 

[delmel]

Actually i have used the colron ones many times and they work well

 

[Watshot]

Thanks Robbie. I had (mistakingly) thought that as the wood was fairly light it would stand a reasonable chance of colouring the way I wanted. I wouldn't have expected that on a dark, or hard wood, but it's a lesson learned.

I have put another coat on and the 'orange' effect has lessened as the colour darkens. I will finish one reverse side and offer it up, see how it looks before committing to the front. If we still don't like it I will definitely look up some of the Ronseal/Colron stains suggested and switch to plan B for the front. At least if one side is done it won't be such a waste of material!

Many thanks for the input guys, it's very much appreciated.