What color wood stain is this?

[Sonance'84]

The speakers were originally oak...but the previous owner seems to have applied a stain or something to them in the past. I'm not sure if it was an actual stain or something along the line of Howard's Restor-a-finish? It definitely has a reddish hue to it.

In any case, the color of the stain looks good on them, although it's not the best application job. I could probably buff out certain spots to get a more even look. After that I was going to just use Howard's restor-a-finish and feed-n-wax since the wood isn't in bad shape.

My main concern is matching the Howard's to the stain on them currently. It seems cherry or walnut are my two main options, as far as the darkness of the wood. I think mahogany would be too dark. Check out the contrast in the pics where the midrange drivers were removed and the pic of the back baffle, with a huge "smudge" of whatever stain they used.

What color do you think they used? :scratch2:

 

[valvenator]

If that blotch is hard like polyurethane it's probably mahogany minwax polyshades. It doesn't look that dark because it was applied thinly over a light color, that's my guess anyway.

 

[Todd MacDona]

Could also be just a straight oil based poly. I have seen oak take on that color when oil poly is applied.

 

[Sonance'84]

Would a poly or oil based poly applied previously still allow the oak to take Howard's restor-a-finish?

I wood itself doesn't really need a full refinish job, but the color is uneven in some spots. I was thinking of going a little darker on the Howard's, to try and blend/hide some of the unevenness...but do you think that would work? Will the Howard's soften up any of the previous stain and allow me to blend with steel wool?

I know that going too dark with the Howard's will accentuate and nicks and scratches that get down to bare wood, so that's another reason for me wanting to try and match the current color.

Any ideas? :scratch2: I'm about to make a trip to Lowe's and grab what I need to get started on these. Perfect day outside.

 

[valvenator]

I've never tried the Howard's but you might want to go with a slightly lighter finish in case there are spots that absorb more it won't leave such obvious marks. You could try the steel wool to even out the darker spots before using the Howard's. Odorless mineral spirits are great for cleaning up the residual dust.
BTW, if the bottom of the speaker is finished start there since it's the best place to work out mistakes that can be swept under the rug.

 

[Chip Chester]

Looks like Minwax Special Walnut 224 on white oak.

Chip

 

[valvenator]

3 replies, 3 different answers. I wonder if our individual computer monitors are giving each of us different results. I notice when shopping for a TV that no two screens look alike.

 

[heyraz]

I can't tell you what you have, but maybe what I know can help you find a match.

I read a great book, "All About Wood". The first sentence was "Wood comes from trees", which cracked me up because I thought "All righty, this book starts from the beginning".

What the author was getting at was that trees are imperfect and so is wood, so working and staining wood can have unexpected results. Some areas are more porous and take up more stain causing blotching. One way to prevent or minimize this is to first seal the wood with a light coat of varnish. Your chances for an even coat of stain have now been improved.

I prefer the gel stains. Unlike the liquid stains, they can be rubbed and wiped to the desired darkness. I also like to mix stains, Mahogany and Cherry for example makes for a beautiful color on red oak.

What I would do is get some scrap wood similar to wood you want to match, go to the paint store and wipe on some samples. Then compare the samples to your speakers under the same light.

Good Luck!

 

[Sonance'84]

Thanks guys, I definitely appreciate all the advice here.

I'm going to try the easy way first since I feel these are a good candidate to try the Howard's method on. If they don't turn out the way I want, I'll then sand and refinish from the beginning

I found more areas with built up stain and it is definitely a dark red, almost purple / wine color that was applied in the past. So, I ended up grabbing mahogany color RAF in hopes to help blend and hide some imperfections.

I'll test some small spots first and see what it looks like. I don't know if these were white or red oak, but originally they had a golden color.

 

[Yvan_donald]

Hi,look like mahogany redish color,you should remove the varnish,clean with thinner and gently sand the imperfections before re-stain and re-varnish or lacquered,sanding lightly between coats.Don't put stain on top of varnish or lacquer.Yvan Donald

 

[Sonance'84]

Hi,look like mahogany redish color,you should remove the varnish,clean with thinner and gently sand the imperfections before re-stain and re-varnish or lacquered,sanding lightly between coats.Don't put stain on top of varnish or lacquer.Yvan Donald

Yep, I've been prepping the wood just like your tips. :thmbsp: I'm going to wipe down a spot with mineral spirits and then test out the mahogany Howard's RAF.

 

[valvenator]

...I found more areas with built up stain and it is definitely a dark red, almost purple / wine color that was applied in the past...

Sounds like the Minwax Bombay Mahogany to me. I had to use a coat of the Honey Pine on top to take some of that purpleness away.
Wound up with a kind of dark Cherry finish which looked much better and gave it a slightly antiqued look. I haven't used the Polyshades on bare wood since then as it comes out blotchy.

 

[woodj]

The first picture looks kinda "cherry(ish)" to me, but certain mahogonies on certain woods might be the answer.
One problem is that minwax changed some stains years ago, and the newer ones do not look exactly like the new ones.

 

[Sonance'84]

Well, the mahogany RAF didn't add any color...at all...so the parts that I light sanded can be told apart from the rest pretty easily. It does rejuvenate the stained areas without making nicks and scratches any darker, so that's nice.

The old stain doesn't go deep at all, so I think I'll just lightly the entire speaker back to the original oak and then apply the Howard's. A bit more work, but it needs to be done and they'll look closer to original.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Lo-Fidelity]

The brown shade looks more like English Chestnut to me than a mahogany. Always hard to tell from a photo.

 

[Drugolf]

I think you are headed to wards the right thing. What's there does not matter. because you cant match or work well with it no matter what input you get on what it might be. Removing the clear coat down to something consistent and go from there if you want it to look the way you want it to. You have done all the other hard work, so why not? it gets easy and fun once you get the old off and have the open wood to work with.

Also, if you go that far, I might consider something other than the Howards. An oil or like said above go with the gel stains for a color add.

 

[SteveS in VA]

There are dozens of stains, and a miriad of combinations of them. There is no way to tell what brand of stain from a picture, let alone a computer image, even if all our monitors were professionally color matched.

My first impression is that the picture just shows the difference between unfinished wood and wood that has been coated with a top coat. This would be easy to test--just wipe the surface with mineral spirits. If you really feel the need to make changes in the finish do it right. Remove the old finish, and most of the stain by using a chemical stripper. The most efficient of these are based around methylene chloride. Use plenty of ventilation and protection from being splashed by the stripper. Do not try to sand off old finish--it doesn't work nearly as well at opening up the wood to accept new stain evenly, and since speakers are covered with veneer, it's too easy to sand through. A small bit of hand sanding with 220 or 320 grit paper after the stripper might be OK. Actually read and follow all the directions on the stripper can.

I wouldn't use Howards--it isn't really a finish but just a furniture polish--mostly solvent for cleaning and mineral oil (so it doesn't all evaporate) to give the "wetted" color to wood that has been scratched. Some versions add pigment.

Once stripped, you can choose from all sorts of stains. I don't recommend Minwax products, other brands such as General Finishes or Old Masters are more reliable. A wipe on varnish provides a very protective finish. If you want a "in the wood" finish that doesn't look like a film a Danish oil including Watco and the tinted Watco. DO NOT even think of using Minwax Polyshades. Almost no one can achieve a good, evenly colored finish with that.

 

[Sonance'84]

There are dozens of stains, and a miriad of combinations of them. There is no way to tell what brand of stain from a picture, let alone a computer image, even if all our monitors were professionally color matched.

My first impression is that the picture just shows the difference between unfinished wood and wood that has been coated with a top coat. This would be easy to test--just wipe the surface with mineral spirits.

I wouldn't use Howards--it isn't really a finish but just a furniture polish--mostly solvent for cleaning and mineral oil (so it doesn't all evaporate) to give the "wetted" color to wood that has been scratched. Some versions add pigment.

I knew we wouldn't be able to tell what brand of stain this is...but that wasn't the question. I was just trying to get a ballpark match of the color.

It's definitely not just a top coat over unfinished wood though...that would be how they came originally. Oak with some kind of top coat, but not sealed (from what I've read).

I'll probably save the Howard's for another project and find a decent stain for these speakers. I do like the reddish color that they are now though, so I'd like to find something that will make the oak that dark after only 2 coats. The Minwax Wood Finish stains take quite a few coats when applying to oak, at least in my experience.



EDIT: SteveS in VA, as much as I appreciate your insight, I have refinished many wood speakers and other pieces. I've used stripper, both water and chemical based. I know you're just trying to offer help, but some of it is off topic at this point and you're assuming that I've never done this before. Please read the entire thread before replying and editing your post next time.

 

[valvenator]

Sometimes it's hard to tell from a post how much experience someone has had. I don't remember if you mentioned that you've done any of this before but for future reference when someone else comes along to read this thread that info might be quite useful.

 

[Sonance'84]

Sometimes it's hard to tell from a post how much experience someone has had. I don't remember if you mentioned that you've done any of this before but for future reference when someone else comes along to read this thread that info might be quite useful.

True...and I wasn't meaning to come across rude either. Sorry if I did.

The question in my main post has been answered and I thank you all for the replies. :thmbsp: I'll have these looking good pretty soon.