any way to make pine close to oak in colour?

happyhero

Hi We have a 1930's house and I am decorating my bedroom. We have the original window cill which have been poorly painted in the past and I have stripped it. As expected it is pine although it seems to be of a fractionly darker and stronger quality stuff than you get at DIY places.

I ripped off the old damaged skirting boards and want to put light oak (I think it is called American Oak but not sure) skirtings in so I would like the window cill to match as much as possible. I will probably use a clear polyurathane coating on the skirtings to keep it looking the colour it comes and protect it. I definitely need to protect the window cill as my wife gets everywhere with her make up.

I know the cill will still look like pine on close inspection but if I could just get it looking similar to the oak it would be nice, any tips?

I know sometimes when I am out and you see a restaurant with light Oak beams they will have some pine too but you hardly notice the fact that it is pine as the colour is very close, so I wonder what they did when they dealt with the finishes.

Any tips or help appreciated.

Jamie_Carter

Instead of using a clear varnish, use one that is described as having a 'light oak' colour, so that it add some colour to both.

The darker you go the closer they should match.

KennyH1

You can buy some wood stains that you buff onto the wood to darken it.

Or as said above some varnish can do the job.

Toxteth_OGrady

Colron Wood Dye.

Pupnik

Fiddes Hard Wax Oil is available in a colour called 'American' which I assume is American oak

jimbo_the_jetset

You will want and 'antique' style wax.

If you have any local pine furniture shops then pop in and ask them.

Otherwise something like Briwax

tony6403

When pine is exposed to light it will darken by itself. Will take a while but it will go darker - if you are prepared to wait.

Avoriaz

tony6403 wrote: »

When pine is exposed to light it will darken by itself. Will take a while but it will go darker - if you are prepared to wait.

The house dates from the 1930s. The OP has recently stripped the paint off it.

Unless the sill has always been painted, it may have already darkened from sunlight as much as it ever will.

cyclonebri1

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

Colron Wood Dye.

Wood dye every time, you can modify the colour with white spirit to lighten it or several coats to darken it.

Avoid coloured laquers, any thin or thick spots and any runs or sags come out a different colour due to thickness.
Wood dye then clear varnish of your choice.;)