Minwax Dark Walnut stain is the best choice for darkening the oak wood stain. With this stain, you can color oak to look like walnut wood while keeping the grain intact.
Best Dark Wood Stains for Oak
Minwax Dark Walnut and Jacobean are definitely the darkest that you will find for oak. I do also love the other two, Red Mahogany and Espresso.
Sand to a coarser grit. To get a darker coloring with any stain when you are wiping off the excess, sand to a coarser grit. More of the colorant will lodge in the sanding scratches, producing a darker effect. In the example here, I sanded to #100 grit (top) and #400 grit (bottom).
If the oak needs to be made darker then Osmo Polyx Oil Tints or Fiddes Hard Wax Oil Tints are ideal because they colour and protect the wood in the same application.
You can use any kind of stain on oak – water-based, oil-based, gel stain, or even a DIY natural wood stain. Click here to see how you can stain wood with coffee! When choosing a color, consider the natural color of the oak.
However, if you would like to darken the oak, hardwax oil is more ideal. Another popular oil for oak is danish oil. This type of oil can bring out the rich tones in the wood as well as preventing surface stains.
Let the steel wool soak in the apple cider vinegar for 24 hours. Use a paintbrush to brush the black tea onto the wood. Make sure you cover every part of the wood's surface that you want to darken. Let the wood and black tea sit for an hour.
For pieces where you have a dark finish and want to go lighter, you will need to remove the existing finish first. Then, determine what undertone your wood has and counteract it with an appropriate stain color. For pieces that are a light finish, and you want to go darker, you can simply apply a darker stain!
Enter Gel Stain.
Gel stain is a stain that can stain without having to soak into the wood. It basically sits on the top of the sealed wood, making the wood darker. But you can also still see the wood grain, just like traditionally stained wood!
Generally speaking, the more porous a wood is, the better it will take stain. Oak, for example, has very large pores so it will stain quite easily. Cedar is also well known for its ability to take stain. Other woods that are commonly used with stain include ash and chestnut.
How can you stain wood darker? To darken the stain, you can sand the surface with coarse grit sandpaper, and apply another coat of stain. Using coarser grit sandpaper will add larger sanding scratches than fine grit, making more room for the pigment to adhere.
Brown Oak is technically not a distinct species of oak, but rather refers to oak (almost always English Oak or another European species) that has been infected with a fungus. This fungus (Fistulina hepatica) has the effect of turning the wood a deep brown color.
You can give your wood cabinets a quick makeover with a fresh coat of stain. Using a different color stain—even as simple as going one shade darker or lighter—can give your kitchen, bathroom or other rooms in your home the new, updated look you want.
Pre-staining the wood with black tea or coffee can produce more tannins and thus, darken the wood. An oxidation solution with apple cider vinegar can also produce a slightly darker result without the need for a pre-stain.
When oak is cut using iron based tools (including steel tools), this can leave traces of metal on the wood itself. This will react with the tannins in the wood to produce bluish black marks.
Using most gel stains, you can darken wood furniture, or stay the same color, without sanding off the old stain. But, I usually use General Finishes Gel Stain because the finish always looks beautiful. Don't forget to Save or Share these steps for how to stain wood without sanding.
By far the best finishes for high quality wood furniture are either Danish oil or beeswax. They bring out the stunning beauty of wooden furniture grains and leave wood satisfying to the touch.
The simple answer to this is yes, wood flooring will change colour over the years. Wood is a natural product and changes in colour will occur due to the wood's reaction to the environment. A dark wood such as walnut will lighten and a lighter wood species like oak, will darken.
Linseed Oils are a traditional option for nourishing and protecting wood, but which is the best one to use? Once dry both oils will provide a similar level of nourishment and protection to the wood and they will both slightly darken and enhance the woods natural grain.
Examine the wood material
If a piece uses multiple types of wood—for example, oak and maple—then painting it is best. Pieces that use multiple woods present a problem with staining because every wood takes to stain differently and won't look exactly the same. Paint will cover all surfaces with ease.
You should sand after the first coat of water-based stain to flatten any wood grain the water raised, but it's unnecessary after that.
Here is a close-up, before and after of Danish Oil on Oak. You can see the oil slightly darkens the wood, enhancing the natural characteristics of the oak.