Need help matching old oak cabinets to new

[Sparetime]

I am working on making a small section of cabinet to match an existing kitchen.  The fridge width wasn't wide enough, so I had to make a few new cabinets to allow the new fridge to fit.

I'm having trouble matching the old to the new.  I'm fairly confident Minwax Golden Oak is the color and the cabinets are made out of Oak.  On the new cabinets, the darker areas of the grain are very pronounced.  On the old cabinets, these darker areas don't stand out as much.

Any idea on how to reduce the darker areas and get a more uniform color on the doors and face frames?  Thanks for any advice. 

I have pictures, just need to read up on how to post them here.

[Sparetime]

The door in the picture is from the old set of cabinets, and I was hoping to use it on the new set.  Due to the original construction there is a large, single piece that goes above the stove.  I wanted to only redue the doors that I had to, and reuse a couple.

In the picture, the faceframe of the cabinet has only been stained with minwax Golden Oak.  It hasn't been coated with a clear coat yet.

[Phil Thien]

The color looks off (I don't think the stain is as close as you think), the grain of the new wood maybe of younger/faster-growth lumber, and you may need a pre-stain conditioner to keep the pigments from absorbing into the new wood.

Have you considered going to a store that can mix stains with a sample of what you're after, and some bare wood for testing?  I think Sherwin Williams stores can mix stains.  At least I read they can, once.

[jteneyck]

It's likely the original cabinets weren't stained at all.  They were more likely just sprayed with lacquer, maybe a colored basecoat, maybe not, hard to say looking at the photo.  I would use a shellac toner (Sealcoat shellac + Transtint Dye) to get that color and then put my clearcoats over top.  But you have to be able to spray to do that.  If you don't have spray equipment then your options are to sand a lot finer, use a sealer, a pre-stain conditioner, a neutral stain base, or a grain filler before staining.  Sanding finer will reduce the depth of the pores; the others will help fill the pores and give you a more uniform appearance.  If you want to try a grain filler, Crystallac WB grain filler works great, and will prevent the stain from darkening the pores.  I used on a recent project with white ash and it worked great.  

John

[Cooler]

Try wiping the excess stain across the grain instead of with the grain.  I will leave extra stain in the pores and they will be darker.  If they are too dark, then very lightly wipe with the grain until you get the desired color.

[Sparetime]

So I scrapped the original stain and got a custom color match from the local Sherwin Williams.  The sample looked good, so I went ahead and stained one of the doors.  After drying, the color isn't as dark as it should be.  I'm going to try and put a second coat on tonight to see if that darkens things up.  When I originally stained the door, the back was done first and it appeared to match, so I stained the front.  After drying, the color lightened up on me.  I guess I should have given more time to dry before proceeding with the rest of it. 

I'm going to try a sample and clear coat it to see if I get any darker with the clear coat.  Maybe spar varnish instead of regular poly. 

If that doesn't work, I'm going to have to get some shellac and trantint dye and work up to the color.  At least it isn't too dark. 

Any other thoughts? Not sure why the picture came in upside down. door with handle is the old one, without handle is the new one.

[Stwood_]

Add a dab of walnut stain to your oak stain then do a test piece. The walnut will darken it.

[jteneyck]

You would be wise to set the door aside and do your testing on some scrap until you get the process and materials figured out.  Part of the issue you are facing is the old door is mostly rift sawn wood and your new one is mostly plain sawn, so the grain patterns are very different and the way the grain accepts stain also is different. 

A second coat of stain might work, or perhaps you need to adjust the color of your stain as suggested, or perhaps a toner is the way to go as you discussed.  The only way to know is to test on some scrap.  

John    

[Cooler]

Only compare the shaped rails for color (top of the door, bottom of this photo).  The very different grain will throw off your color judgement.  Only the upper rail is remotely similar in grain structure.  It is not as far off looking as the stiles or the panel.

[daddo]

The new stain looks like black walnut to me.