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“Matching” old heartwood pine

Biff_Loman | Posted in General Discussion on January 25, 2009 02:18am

There’s a small amount of trim missing in the house we’re buying, built in 1860. The trim is all heartwood pine.

It’s just a couple short pieces of baseboard, and a lot of quarter-round. I’d like to try and do a somewhat decent job of matching it. DW suggested painting it “kind of dark orange, which would be close enough” which earned her the evil eye from me.

Any suggestions for a species I might try? Clearly, I’ll have to come up with a stain that approximates the color.

Edit: I’ll also ask over at Knots.


Edited 1/24/2009 6:19 pm ET by Biff_Loman

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  1. User avater
    Sphere | Jan 25, 2009 02:35am | #1

    You can still get Heart Pine , reclaimed from old structures. It almost plentiful in some places. Expect to pay aound 8.00 USD a BDFT. 

    Heart Pine was Souther Yellow long leaf pine. Still grows, just not as aged or quality of tight growth.

    Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

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  2. User avater
    McDesign | Jan 25, 2009 02:47am | #2

    We've had good success with Behr European Cherry (water-based) on birch to approximate our heart pine.   Note - use pre-stain conditioner first if birch or maple!

    In this library, all the trim and cabinet door frames and ornamentation is longleaf pine flooring (from elsewhere in the house) with just Formby's clear tung oil finish, and all sheet material (shelves and cabinet bodies and door panels) is new birch plywood with that stain and then the tung oil.

    View Image

    Forrest



    Edited 1/24/2009 6:49 pm ET by McDesign

    1. User avater
      FatRoman | Jan 25, 2009 02:31pm | #3

      That's a gorgeous liberry!You have a photo thread on that?What made you decide to use the old flooring as face frames? It's got the requisite McCanless creative stamp on it.'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb

      View Image

      1. User avater
        McDesign | Jan 25, 2009 04:02pm | #4

        Thanks!  I'll see what non-digital photos I've got - a thread would be fun, since I don't build anything anymore . . .

        Forrest

  3. Shep | Jan 25, 2009 04:18pm | #5

    Try using amber shellac. Sometimes its a pretty good color match for old pine. Or at least it can give a little more color over a stain.

  4. Piffin | Jan 25, 2009 05:42pm | #6

    amber shellac does it here, sometimes with a tint.

    The old vertical grain was used on floors and the summer wood was uised for the casings, base, and cabinetry. Yellow pine or modern longleaf will replace that OK, but the vertical flooring grain at 12 to 22 rings per inch is hard to replace. I still have some of it salvaged that I might be talked out of. You have pictures to grain match?

     

     

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    1. Snort | Jan 25, 2009 07:56pm | #7

      If you have a source for Southern Yellow Pine that you can pick through, you can probably find some tight grained stuff. I use water soluble aniline dyes, like mahogany or cherry. Mix em up til you get something you like.Lot's of places sell old, reclaimed pine. It's not all the same. Never have seen heartwood pine. Heart pine is usually a longleaf. Antique yellow pine is just that, and never naturally gets as darkly mellow as the longleaf. You can usually figure out what you've got by looking at the less light affected side.http://www.tvwsolar.com

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  5. User avater
    Jeff_Clarke | Jan 27, 2009 04:07am | #8

    http://www.heartpine.com/index2.shtml

    View Image

  6. Jamwats | Jan 27, 2009 06:04am | #9

    We had some success using Doug Fir.  We finished all of our heart pine with 4 coats of Waterlox, so on the Doug Fir we mixed 1/3 stain with 2/3 Waterlox for the first coat (per manufacturers instructions) and followed that with 3 coats of straight Waterlox.  I believe the color was Olympic's American Cherry.

     

    Jamie

    1. RealCarpenter | Jan 27, 2009 06:30am | #10

      I got some reclaimed from a local source in Chicago. I did the whole send floor base, casing and built-ins to match the 1st floor. For doors I used fir and messed around with stains to get it to match. Salvage is not cheap I bought all of mine rough and milled down(thanks Dad. Then made all of the casing, base, back band and shoe. I sent the base cap out to be milled. In a pinch clear fir with the right stain can do but there is nothing like the real thing.

      1. Jamwats | Jan 28, 2009 03:22am | #11

        I agree, there's nothing quite like the real thing.  We got ours by saving anything we could as we deconstructed the house we were rebuilding.  We found beautiful wood in every part of the house, from siding to floor joists.  It took us a while to sort it out, pull nails, and then plane it down to useable stock.  We ended up with enough for all the trim downstairs except the door jambs.  All of our interior doors had to be stripped, sanded, and reinstalled.  I realized that the panels of the old doors were actually Doug Fir plywood, so I played around with matching some new stuff to use for the door jambs.  They turned out pretty well, but I'll always wish we had managed to save more during demo.

        Jamie 

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