Is It Important To Stain The Wood? Applying wood stain on your wood is important to make the wood grain beautiful. You can darken your wooden furniture or floor by using many kinds of wood stains with various colors.
For this reason, you must learn how to turn the wood stain darken the right way. By making the wood darker, you will boost the beauty of your furniture or floor at home. Read more on this article to find out how to get it done.
Do I Need To Replace Or Buy A New Wooden Floor To Get a Darker Appearance?
No, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel if your goal is only to make your wooden floors or furniture look darker. All you need is a simple guideline to turn your existing wooden floor acquire a darker color.
This affordable method will surely make you save money and get a new experience in woodworking.
Can You Put Another Layer Of Stain On Wooden Surface To Darken It?
The short answer is yes, you can. Putting stain over an existing stain on a wooden floor is fine. It will give your furniture a new look and enhance your room’s style.
It is crucial to give a stain test of your new stain on a small test wood. It is safer that way, and by doing this, you will learn if the stain can work well on your wooden surface or not.
You also need to know that lightening a wood stain and darkening a wooden stain is different. Thus, you need to use a different approach.
You will learn a new approach to darkening your furniture by reading the instructions below.
Related: How To Stain Furniture Darker
The Methods To Darken The Stain On Wood
- Give Your Wood Surface A Sandpaper Sanding
It is important to sand your wooden surface beforehand as it will let it acquire a rough texture.
Moreover, sanding will make the wooden surface capable of absorbing more stains if you apply a coarser level of sandpaper grit. As a result, the stain can take more and get an optimal dark appearance.
That said, you must refrain from sanding too rough, making the surface scratched.
The best approach is to sand using a medium level of sanding block or sandpaper grit, so you will not sand too rough, which will cause scratches on your wood. The recommended grit level for sandpaper is 120 or 150.
- Use Water To Lift The Grain On The Wood Before Using Stain
An old saying goes, “water is bad for hardwood floors if it’s not sealed.” That’s true! However, in this phase, we need to summon the enemy since we need it for this project to be successful.
Use water to splash your wooden surface so it will get wet. The reason for this is that by splashing some water, we will make the wooden grain raise.
The grain will later get dried and form a rougher texture. This is the surface condition that you need. The rough wooden texture will improve the stain set and create a darker effect.
You can use stain with a water-based type to shorten the staining process. Use a lint-free rag and apply the first water-based coating on the surface.
Afterward, use the rag to wipe the excess stain and leave it alone to dry properly.
After the wooden stain has finally cured, you can apply another layer of the same coating on your furniture. The more coating layers you apply, the darken the result will become, especially if you use a dark-colored stain.
- Add Pigment To Enhance The Concentration of Stain
People usually use thinner to weaken a stain on the wood. However, you can use pigment to extend the liquid colorant’s concentration.
To make your wooden stain darker, add more particles of colorant per stain unit amount. For this reason, you need to increase the ratio of pigment-to-vehicle because if the ratio is higher, the wood color will also get darker.
If you choose to use an oil-based stain, add some pigment with the oil-based type according to your preference. If you use stain with water-based type, then universal coloring pigment is what you need.
Before applying the stain product on the wooden surface, you need to test it on a test wood with the same type of wood you will stain.
You can inspect and decide whether the stain is what you want. If you are satisfied with the result, you can proceed to work with the real wood.
- It Is Essential To Wipe Extra Stain
Wiping a surplus amount of stain on your surface is essential to achieve a wooden surface with an even stain appearance. However, do not wipe too deep as it will make the surface moist with wood stain.
The wooden surface will eventually cure with a color that gets darker. Give it adequate time for it to cure properly.
While adding wood stain on a test wood, you may try some experiments by measuring the right quantity of stain, so you can safely use it on the real wood.
- After Applying Stain and Using Sealer, Add A glaze
You can use glaze to create the best darker color on your wood. After applying it to the surface, add pigment to darker the color.
The glaze is also suitable for refinishing your wooden surface and using oil or water-based sealer and stain.
- Replace Dye With Oil Stain
Dyes have many types you can choose from, from powder to liquid dyes. You can mix dyes with powder type in water or alcohol.
These powder dyes are also called NGR or Non-Grain Raising. It is also called Liquid Dyes With Trans Tint.
Once you purchase the dye, it is ready to use. Make sure you stir it properly before using it on the surface.
It is recommended to read the product description before you buy it to learn whether it needs to be dissolved in alcohol or water.
Dye stains are good for darkening wood because they don’t depend on wood’s pores for coloring. Moreover, they also work well with thick hardwoods, so you can make the wood color as dark as you like.
