Dying red oak to match?

x-no-archive:yes

I have several red oak boards that are kiln dried. Alot of the boards
vary in color from pink to red to white. My guess is it is just the
wood and not the drying process.

Can you go over the wood with a mixture of bleach and water to lessen
the difference? (I hear this will lighten the wood. I think I did it
several years ago on an old piece of furnature I was re-finishing but
cant remember how it came out.)
Toller wrote:
> I am making a table out of 7 pieces of red oak.
> 5 pieces are kiln dried and have a pink color.
> 2 pieces are air dried and are pretty white.
> All the wood has been in my basement for over a year (presumably it is all
> the same moisture content)
> I will be putting minwax Spanish oak over all (to match everything else in
> the room).
>
> Does the pink color have anything to do with kiln drying, or is it just
> variance between different trees?
> I can dye the white wood before staining to match the pink wood. Is a match
> today likely to hold up over the years?

Toller wrote:
> I am making a table out of 7 pieces of red oak.
> 5 pieces are kiln dried and have a pink color.
> 2 pieces are air dried and are pretty white.
...

> Does the pink color have anything to do with kiln drying, or is it just
> variance between different trees?
> I can dye the white wood before staining to match the pink wood. Is a match
> today likely to hold up over the years?

Some is owing to differences between trees, some is probably the
difference between heartwood and sapwood (like the white in walnut
except not nearly as pronounced). In oak the color isn't affected all
that much in drying and rarely is red oak steamed as is walnut to cause
the migration of pigment to minimize the color difference of the
sapwood.

Undoubtedly it will have some variation as the stain reacts w/ the UV
but probably won't become terribly mismatched. That, however, isn't
possible to predict with certainty, of course.

Toller wrote:
> I am making a table out of 7 pieces of red oak.
> 5 pieces are kiln dried and have a pink color.
> 2 pieces are air dried and are pretty white.
> All the wood has been in my basement for over a year (presumably it is all
> the same moisture content)
> I will be putting minwax Spanish oak over all (to match everything else in
> the room).
>
> Does the pink color have anything to do with kiln drying, or is it just
> variance between different trees?
> I can dye the white wood before staining to match the pink wood. Is a match
> today likely to hold up over the years?

You can try to blend stains with a little yellow or pink for the pink
part and try to minimize the difference. Don't remember a lot of red
oak which is white (oak). Mixing and matching if fairly easy - do a
test piece first - and covers a multitude of sins. Also, yellow or
amber often will even out colors - often in oil based varnish or water
based designed to mimic the oil base.
Will water based dyes, you can make any color you want to blend
regions.
don't be afraid to try them. also, be sure and match the grain boards
as well as possible to minimize contrast which, if you don't, will
highlight any inconsistency in your boards.

mbr

"Toller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> I can dye the white wood before staining to match the pink wood. Is a
> match today likely to hold up over the years?
>

Have any scraps or cutoffs you can test with?

Toller wrote:
> I am making a table out of 7 pieces of red oak.
> 5 pieces are kiln dried and have a pink color.
> 2 pieces are air dried and are pretty white.
> All the wood has been in my basement for over a year (presumably it is all
> the same moisture content)
> I will be putting minwax Spanish oak over all (to match everything else in
> the room).
>
> Does the pink color have anything to do with kiln drying, or is it just
> variance between different trees?
> I can dye the white wood before staining to match the pink wood. Is a match
> today likely to hold up over the years?
>
>
>
Responses from this group would be

1 DAWGS
2 Buy a book and read it
3 Take a freaking woodworking course

Good Day

In article <[email protected]>, "stryped" <[email protected]> wrote:
>x-no-archive:yes

x-no-answer: yes

>
>I have several red oak boards that are kiln dried. Alot of the boards
>vary in color from pink to red to white. My guess is it is just the
>wood and not the drying process.
>
>Can you go over the wood with a mixture of bleach and water to lessen
>the difference? (I hear this will lighten the wood. I think I did it
>several years ago on an old piece of furnature I was re-finishing but
>cant remember how it came out.)
>Toller wrote:
>> I am making a table out of 7 pieces of red oak.
>> 5 pieces are kiln dried and have a pink color.
>> 2 pieces are air dried and are pretty white.
>> All the wood has been in my basement for over a year (presumably it is all
>> the same moisture content)
>> I will be putting minwax Spanish oak over all (to match everything else in
>> the room).
>>
>> Does the pink color have anything to do with kiln drying, or is it just
>> variance between different trees?
>> I can dye the white wood before staining to match the pink wood. Is a match
>> today likely to hold up over the years?
>

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

"none" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Toller wrote:
>> I am making a table out of 7 pieces of red oak.
>> 5 pieces are kiln dried and have a pink color.
>> 2 pieces are air dried and are pretty white.
>> All the wood has been in my basement for over a year (presumably it is
>> all the same moisture content)
>> I will be putting minwax Spanish oak over all (to match everything else
>> in the room).
>>
>> Does the pink color have anything to do with kiln drying, or is it just
>> variance between different trees?
>> I can dye the white wood before staining to match the pink wood. Is a
>> match today likely to hold up over the years?
>>
>>
>>
> Responses from this group would be
>
> 1 DAWGS
> 2 Buy a book and read it
> 3 Take a freaking woodworking course
>
Darn clever!
I bet you mumble when you talk, right?