I'm putting some softwood cladding around an alcove underneath some clear Matt varnished natural oak and need to get the softwood looking something like the oak. Anyone else had success with this?
There are a range of oak stains, such as golden oak, light oak, dark oak, antique oak, etc. You'll have to mix 'm match, and experiment on scrap timber to get the best likeness. I'd start with a length of the timber you've got, try small patches along the timber (with labels) of the unmixed stains, and decide which to mix to improve the likeness.You may need to consider other stains to add to achieve the best likeness. It does obviously mean buying several cans of the stain. The grain pattern will never match, but charging past in a fast car, you'll not notice the difference, depending on the amount of the originals on show, for comparison. Alternatively, go for a contrasting stain.
Appreciate your help, thanks. Funny you said about a contrast, thankfully the customer suggested a tasteful contrast would look good so I suggested dark oak varnish on the softwood to contrast against the clear varnished natural oak. I've used ronseal diamond hard quick dry varnish before and like it so I'll use clear Matt for the natural oak and dark oak on the softwood. I'll certainly remember what you said for the future.