# Red Oak Kitchen Cabinet finish



## MartyZ (Dec 10, 2009)

Hello, I am new to this forum and a novice with some experience when it comes to woodworking. My kitchen needs some touch up work and new crown moldings and I am having extreme difficulty matching the color. The cabinets are definately red oak, the backs of the doors are unfinished. The finished portion however is a light honey color without the pink tint, it has a yellowish tint. I got a piece of scrap red oak and tried every oil based stain I can find in the light tint and I still can't get the pink tint out. Is it possible that the cabinets aren't even stained but just have polyurithane on them? I was told that polyurethane doesn't have any colorant. I need help. Thanks.


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## JW_in_Indy (Mar 20, 2009)

Sure it is VERY likely they could just have some type of finish with no tint or stain of any kind. They generally do end up a "honey" or "golden" type of color. You say the backs of the doors are raw without _ANY_ type of finish or sealer? You should probably consider shooting them with at least a coat or two of sealer if for no other reason than to protect them. Plus, they would look better IMHO.

One thing you can do, is consider not using any penetrating stain at all and going with a dye. I highly recommend the transtint dyes you can find at Rockler (or many places). You can mix them (if needed) to achieve any color you want and should be able to mix exactly what you need. In this case, you would dye your seal or finish coat (I would probably dye the seal coat and finish with clear) but that would depend on what the existing doors and boxes look like I suppose.

Here is a link to the dyes: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11448&cookietest=1 One nice thing about going to a Rockler store, is they always have samples of all of their stains and finishes (including every one of the dyes) open for you to sample. I bring in scrap and whatever stain or finish I plan on using and play with the tints or stains until I get exactly what I want.

Or, you could take one of the doors to a pro commercial Sherwin Williams store (not one of their retail sales stores at the mall) and they could try and match the color/finish for you.


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## MartyZ (Dec 10, 2009)

I tried just the polyurethane yesterday but i'm still not getting that yeoow/amber tint. Do I need to give it some time to cure?


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## jaros bros. (Feb 18, 2009)

Oil or water based poly. The waterbase will leave it pretty much the same while oil based will give it a warm brown to yellow glow. If the old finish is oil poly, it probably has turned more yellow as ultraviolet light has changed it over the years. You could tint the new oil poly, but keep in mind that it too will slowly yellow more with time.


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## MartyZ (Dec 10, 2009)

It is Oil poly, I am know thinking of just stripping all the cabinets and refinishing them. I am thinking more now that there is no stain because the parts of the cabinets that are covered by the door (small lip around the openning) still has the pink titnt.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

The most popular lacquer for cabinets was nitrocelulous lacquer so my guess is that is what you have. 
Nitrocellulous lacquer normally has an amber tint to it as does most polys. When you buy this stuff you have to be careful of nomenclature. The amber tinted stuff is referred to as "clear". If you dont want amber tinting, then you must specify "water white". Water White is not very common on clear coating - clear coating in this context is used to describe a finish that you can see through as opposed to a solid color. In almost all cases of clear coated finishes, the amber tint actually improves the looks of the wood. The water white finish is normally used to clear coat a color for additional protection. In this case, the amber would alter the color which would not be desirable. 
Anyway, back to your original problem. My best guess is that you have a clear coat of lacquer (the amber stuff) on there. The pink is in the wood. Red oak has lots of different appearances depending on particular species, where in the tree it came from etc. Some red oak is even gray in color similar to white oak and the only way I can tell the difference is by looking at the end grain and feeling the weight. Most of my red oak usually has pink in it. 
I assume what u are trying to match is the crown molding. Either you must look for red oak crown molding that has some pink to it, learn to tint or learn to glaze.
Hope this wasnt to wordy and confusing.


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## JW_in_Indy (Mar 20, 2009)

Tony.... no one minds when you share some of your vast knowledge.... be it wordy or otherwise. I'm continually amazed that the only "finish" so many people think is around is the "Poly" they see in the big box stores.

All one has to do is go to the commercial side of SW's web site or Campbell finishes or other professional wood finishing sites and see there are about five or six different types and ways to do lacquer.... and then, there are the different types of varnishes. ALL of which are used long before any professional or manufacturer would ever reach for a can of "Poly."


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