Staining red deal to look like oak

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lfcjfc

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Thinking of staining red deal door frames with an oak stain in new build so that we can instal oak internal doors. Has anybody tried this, and if so, were you happy with how it turned out? can you recommend a particular stain that worked well? I dont want to rip out existing frames or paint them so its this or nothing.
 
Hi,
Probably not what you wanted to hear but I tried this for window boards and being unable to get a nice finish with stain we have decided to paint them. I tried different numbers of coats, tried appying with brush and cloth, etc but just couldn't get them looking nice.
A major problem I encountered was that, even though I sanded the boards until I thought they were perfect, once I applied stain all the little imperfections were highlighted as darker than well-sanded parts - tiny bumps and hollows, marks from sand paper, etc.

By the way we are going for unpainted oak doors but painted red deal door frames. I've seen this in quite a few places and it looks really good. Also painting skirting boards.
 
I agree - don't do it! We tried it and now have to paint them. Such a waste of time, energy and money! If I were you I paint the architraves an off white colour - it will look lovely with your oak doors.
 
We have red deal frames with white oak architraves and doors. It looks just fine - no-one has ever noticed. If you are really concerned, try painting cold tea onto the red deal. Much cheaper than varnish and works better.
 
I just used some Auro natural wood stain on deal and it came up brilliantly with only 1 coat. I used Pine but they have a range of colors.
 
lfcjfc said:
Thinking of staining red deal door frames with an oak stain in new build so that we can instal oak internal doors. Has anybody tried this, and if so, were you happy with how it turned out? can you recommend a particular stain that worked well? I dont want to rip out existing frames or paint them so its this or nothing.
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You could bleach the architrave with caustic soda this gets rid of the red from red deal and then put on an antique pine stain that would be close to what light oak is it would not be perfect but you won't get any closer.

This method is not for the faint hearted but you don't have to do any sanding
 
Would a different stain be any better?
I'm thinking of doing my doors with a ronseal walnut stain and painting just the skirting and architrave.
What sort of preparation would I need to do?
 
Hi Mel

I went ahead and tried this after my original post. I brought a sample of the oak that I was trying to match into a good paint suppliers and the guy actually tried a couple of stains for me on the red deal to match. A year later it looks great - the frames are a great match for the oak doors. I'm glad that I didnt go to the trouble of ripping out all the deal frames.
 
lfcjfc said:
Hi Mel

I went ahead and tried this after my original post. I brought a sample of the oak that I was trying to match into a good paint suppliers and the guy actually tried a couple of stains for me on the red deal to match. A year later it looks great - the frames are a great match for the oak doors. I'm glad that I didnt go to the trouble of ripping out all the deal frames.
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Naturally enough though peoples tolerances as regards how well it looks vary hugely. Could you take a pic of one of the doors in situ along with the frame you stained so we could have a look?
 
Hi

We stained our red deal floors with an oak stain about 15 years ago and they still look great. The only flaw was that the hall where the floors were placed was already dark so we have decided to replace same with cream tiles. Best of luck in your decision.
 
Sounds good - I'm not trying to match anything in particular, so I'll maybe try some stains on a cut-off and see how it looks.
Glad it worked for you.
 
Sorry but I would have to agree with SAS, oak has an lovely even colour, red deal has beautiful veins of colour (Red and Yellow) which will change all the time, the more light it gets the more the colour will mature and may even have knots. Impossible to get the two identical.
 
Yes, I would have a critical eye too, if I were trying to match two woods, but this is just staining doors that I don't want to paint.
I'll paint the skirting and architrave, so it'll be fine.
I'm on a budget and looking for the overall effect, rather than a perfect reproduction of a type of wook.
 
I used Colron Wood Dye and it came up very well. available in most hardware stores. try it on a test patch first to make sure you're happy
 
Has anyone ever experienced a wood dye that won't dry. One brand I have tried is still sticky after a week ? It is not that the wood isn't dry - other brands have dried on the same bit of wood.
 
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