white oak Vs Red Oak.....

[Sam Yerardi]

Dave,

One thing you might try if you are having problems matching the colors. You can try bleaching the red oak to a neutral color and then start working on the color to match it to the white oak. That way you're essentially working with a clean pallette.

[david babcock]

Dave,

One thing you might try if you are having problems matching the colors. You can try bleaching the red oak to a neutral color and then start working on the color to match it to the white oak. That way you're essentially working with a clean pallette.

whoa, this sounds a little advanced for me. I will be ready to post some pictures of my experimenting here pretty soon.
Ps, I was at woodcraft today and a fella' there told me to use a gel stain.
he said i could keep adding coats till the right shade was obtained.
Sounds logical- right? Then I could still topcoat with shellac or waterlox.

[Sam Yerardi]

Gel stain will allow you to add color with less penetration than you will get with a liquid stain. Gel stains are good for color matching and it is worth a try in your case. As far as my suggestion on bleaching, I would only consider it as a last-ditch effort if nothing else worked.

[Kevin Godshall]

The other thing to remember is that there are about 6 different varieties of Red Oak: Scarlett, Rock, Black, Jack, Northern Red.......... not all reds are created equal. I spent 2 years running a Finishing Dept for a major national cabinet maker and will tell you, white oak mixed in with my red drove me absolutely crazy. I won't even consider mixing them in my shop.

[david babcock]

oh great Kevin!

[Kevin Godshall]

My pleasure......glad to add to the confusion.....