# Staining alderwood to match reclaimed teak



## tamjamb (Aug 24, 2012)

In 1965 my dad got hold of some reclaimed teak wood. It had been removed from a US Navy ship after it was decommissioned. Dad built some furniture with the teak, including 2 end tables and a coffee table. When my folks downsized and moved to Florida last year, I inherited the end tables and coffee table.

I'm refurnishing my living room and, obviously, I want to use the tables. Laying out the furniture I plan to buy, I've decided I really would like to get a sofa table. Unfortunately, I had trouble finding anything at my local furniture stores that was a good visual match with my teak set. One of the problems is the style -- they are in kind of a streamlined Scandinavian-inspired style which doesn't seem to be terribly in vogue around here -- but I could probably find something that would match well enough. The larger problem is the finish. Dad didn't put a finish on the pieces; my mom always just kept them oiled with lemon oil. They have a beautiful warm glow which I would like to match in my sofa table.

Given all this, I decided to turn to unfinished furniture and I found something I really like. I found an alderwood sofa table in a shaker style which is a good visual match -- not exact, but very close. And quite affordable, which is a bonus.

So my question -- how likely am I to be able to stain an alderwood piece to an approximation of teak? My pieces are fairly dark -- will alderwood 'take' stain well enough to stain dark? 

And next question -- assuming I can get the table stained to a color that suits me, will I be able to leave it unfinished and keep it oiled as I do with my teak pieces?


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## mat 60 (Jul 9, 2012)

I have never worked with teak but I have finished quite a lot of alder and it takes a dark stain quite well. Alto of furniture I sell in the store here is alder and I think looks almost as nice as cherry..I use Sherwin Williams wood classics stain my self with great results..I would test color somewhere where it will not be seen..


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## tamjamb (Aug 24, 2012)

Thank you Mat, I appreciate your input. Do you have any thoughts about the advisibility of skipping the finish coat? With the teak it was kind of an obvious thing for my Dad to leave an oiled finish. Plus, he didn't stain the teak at all -- it was just left natural. 

If it's not recommended to skip a top coat, I suppose I could get almost the same look with a matte polyurethane...


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## jigs-n-fixtures (Apr 28, 2012)

If you are accepting of the lack of protection provided by an oil and wax finish, (which you seem to be because that is what you have now), just stain it, apply some BLO, followed by a god wax and get on with it.

Sent from my iPhone using Wood Forum


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## mat 60 (Jul 9, 2012)

I would go with the matte poly myself .


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## Bill White 2 (Jun 23, 2012)

Alder is not gonna look like teak (different grain structure), but color is another issue. Pics would help us help you.
By the way, It is SHERWIN not sherman.
Bill


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## mat 60 (Jul 9, 2012)

Hay, By the way thanks for helping me out with that....Mat


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

A picture of the piece you are trying to match would help. You will need to get some alder wood for test samples to work out the procedure before putting anything on the furniture. Your pieces stained dark are normal for teak when the natural raw wood is more the color of treated pine. Then alder has more the appearance of cherry so you will need to subdue the red in it. For this I would start by using a very thin green aniline dye. Then you should use an oil stain which you think matches the furniture you are trying to match. You may have to mix different color stains or if its too dark thin the stain to match the color. Once you think you have the color be sure to put your clear finish on the sample to see if its right. If you are real picky sometimes it helps to put the furniture you are trying to match and the sample in the sun to get enough light to make a good match.


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## tamjamb (Aug 24, 2012)

Thanks for all your help. I have attached a pic of the coffee table. As I said before, my dad did not stain the table. However, in its previous incarnation as a ship deck, it may have been stained or treated in some way. If it was, the treatment went straight through the wood, since the underside is exactly the same color as the finished tops. 

Anyway, the color in the photo seems to be pretty true, at least on my monitor. As you can see, it is a pretty dark red with a alot of orange in it and the graining is very dark. I don't mind the grain pattern not being exact -- if I can get the color and sheen and style of the table close enough to my original pieces, I will be happy.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

As course as the grain is on that wood you might have better luck matching the appearance using some selected ash. From the left, the 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th boards have a real ash look to them. You won't get that appearance from alder. There definitely is some stain in the wood. Some of it may have been sanded off but there is some kind of walnut stain there. The orange in it may be due to the finish yellowing. You can recreate the orange in the finish with orange shellac but you will have to use de-waxed shellac if you are going to finish with polyurethane. You can topcoat standard orange shellac with clear shellac, varnish or lacquer.


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