Expert: Greg Scholl - 6/13/2009

Question
QUESTION: We just installed new Oak hardwood floors and a few days ago we had our solid beech doors delivered as well. The beech doors have nor been coated or finished and have the typical pinkish tint and look very mismatched next to the oak.
How can I tint or finish the beech doors to look more like oak and have less pink/orange ? I am looking for a natural, non-glossy effect. Thank you!

ANSWER: Hi Danae, I'm afraid that what you want to do is not really possible. If you wet the Beech with some mineral spirits, that will show you the approximate, natural, finished color of the wood. It will not look like the Oak, I'm sure...if you wanted them to match, one begs the question, why not Oak doors?? Trying to cut pinkish/red tones in natural materials, without a substantial finish, is really not possible. Even with "toning" and coloring techniques, you will not get a match, as these two woods look really different, even in their raw form. The good news is that the Beech will turn a little browner over time, but this will likely take a year to a few years for the pinkish/reddish tones to dissipate. The real problem is that these two species are not even close in look, grain structure, coloration, etc., and therefore are not typically used together for these reasons. Wish I could help more- regards- Greg

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for the reply. On the question on why not Oak doors, well, it's a long story and a boring one but we are now stuck with this combination and hope to make the best of what we have.They are paneled doors so the good thing is that the grain difference are not that obvious.
I'm not looking for an exact match as I am aware it is impossible but rather something that is pleasing to the eye and does not clash. We were thinking of using a wood stain with a matte-satin finish that is slightly tinted with white pigment to mute down the red. (http://www.biopin.com/wohnraumlasur.html) Is this a bad idea overall and will this protect the doors adequately from every day wear and tear?

Answer
The problem you're going to have is that Beech is very hard and of low porosity, with almost no grain to hold a product like that. The Biopin website even says "for Softwood", because a hard wood will not "hold" the pigment well during application. Also the pinkish/red tones are such that they will be accentuated with ANY "wetting" of the wood, with anything. You'd have to "tone" the doors with a spray product in order to hope to cut those hues in the Beech. The Biopin product will probably also not protect the doors very well, and should be coated with an Acrylic Urethane or similar to offer any durability. Perhaps they make a compatible clear, to coat the doors with after successful staining/pickling. Also, I think you'll find that trying to apply this type of stain/wash, on a hard wood like this is going to be a bit frustrating, because it doesn't act like paint or stain, and you'll need to brush it out in steps to get an even film across a given section, and then let each section dry before moving on. Starting with the panels, then the horizontal members(possibly masking the seam with the verticals), then doing the verticals as the last step, blending together as you go, using a "dry" brushing technique.I have done these techniques many times on a variety of different hard and soft woods, and there's a slightly different technique to each one. You know you would have been a lot better off with Oak doors, so I won't mention it again, but you're going to have to put a lot of effort into the Beech ones to get them to "blend"....with Oak flooring, and my guess is that you won't be real happy with the end results, because they aren't going to look even close no matter what you do....wish I had a better read on the situation, but I'm here to tell the awful truth,that's my job, and my suggestion really still is, .....get Oak doors...lol- Regards- Greg