You’ve decided to stain- how to select the right one?
Consistency, opacity, thickness of finish, and shade all contribute to the final outcome of a color; one of these factors alone won’t determine it, but it can be challenging, and confusing to someone new to the project, to understand the interaction of these properties.
Here are a few ‘rules of thumb’ that should help.
Transparent and semi-transparent stains can both cover with a rich vibrant coating, and you will still see the characteristics of the wood underneath them. They are designed to be see-through. They are almost all penetrating finishes, and are a predictable outcome with machine finishing for coating thickness and opacity, but less predictable for color. This is because the wood grain shows through; any color you use is affected by the natural varying shades of the wood itself.
Solid stain covers up the color of the wood completely. These stains are designed to be completely opaque. They are very predictable in machine finished consistency and color as they show very little of the natural characteristics of the wood.
Semi solid stains are what we call “consistently inconsistent”. They’re not sure if they want to be solid or semitransparent. These coatings work really well with some colors and horribly with others. Also, unfortunately, it’s hard to tell whether it’s the color, film, thickness, or level of opacity that is affecting changes are trying to make (or correct for!).
Long story short, semi solid is the hardest to predict in the finish, shade and color because there are so many factors, both of the stain and the wood, that affect how ‘semi’ or how ‘solid’ each mix is going to be; sometimes it can even react differently within the same run[1].
Another very frequent question is “ How do we decide, by looking at a sample, on a color that makes us happy long-term?”
Here are a few rules you can apply to arrive at long-term satisfaction, and a couple of standards to help you navigate.
One: you have to have a range of acceptability. You can’t have your expectation set too narrowly with regards to shade (lighter, or darker) film thickness (how much finish actually rests on the wood) and hue (the actual color).
Two: If you’re not sure what you want, do err on the side of a lighter stain, because you can always make a stain darker. It’s much harder (if possible at all) to make it lighter later.
Three: If you’re on the fence about opacity, lean towards the side of the more transparent option. Just like with shade, it’s easy to make a stain more opaque in a later coat, and difficult or impossible to make it more transparent in later coats.
Four: As to color (hue) predictability by sample: Semitransparent and transparent finishes are a little bit more difficult to predict the final color by sample, because the wood grain and natural wood hue affects the end result of the stain more. It makes sense to use the same rule of thumb as shade or opacity: err on the side of a lighter hue. It’s always easier to darken it a color than it is to lighten it.
Solid stains are much easier to predict the color by sample because it’s going to cover every bit of the wood’s characteristics, especially when applied by our machine coating system.
Semi-Solid stains: again, these are the hardest to predict because they land halfway between showing you the wood’s characteristics and covering them up.
Solid stain: with these products, we want to see two coats of any solid stain because you really want to get it 100% covered up. (Really, at this point they’re basically talking about a paint.)
If it’s a complete opacity you’re looking for, I recommend primer + 1 topcoat at the factory, and a final coat applied in the field after install. You’re going to get a lot more durability out of one coat primer - one coat paint at the finisher’s shop, and a final coat in the field, than you would with a two coat solid stain. Generally, this method provides a 25 year warranty (from most paint companies).
This method will also give you complete control over color, shade, consistency, and add 10 years to the life expectancy- with virtually no difference in the way it looks when it is first applied.
Hope this helps!
Chris Buffalo
Buffalo Lumber
[1] (*****’s is notorious for that, which is why our professional millers and finishers want you to run ######### colors, which perform better on consistency.)
