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We tested popular wood stain colors on 5 different species of wood so you don’t have to

Choosing stain colors for wood is always one of the hardest decisions. Just like with paint colors, all wood stains have undertones and you need to make sure the stain you go with matches the undertones in your home’s furnishings and fixed elements.

We recently tested grey wood stain and had so many requests to test additional stains, we decided to test popular stain colors on 5 different varieties of wood.

In today’s post we’ll highlight some popular wood stain colors, and I’ll even give you step-by-step instructions on how to stain wood.

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7 popular wood stain colors on 5 different species of wood

For this experiment, we tested Cherry, Dark Walnut, Early American, English Chestnut, Golden Oak, Provincial, and Special Walnut on 5 different species of wood that are commonly used in stain applications and readily available.

If you want to try out this stain for yourself, here’s the stain we used.

Wood stain color: Cherry

Cherry wood stain is very commonly used in fine furniture like dining room tables and solid wood hutches, even bedroom sets.

The idea of bright red cherries from a cherry tree kind of prepares you to expect that Cherry stain would be extremely red in color, and while there is a bit of red in the stain, it’s a far more subtle presence in it’s overall color profile than you might expect.

Cherry stain, while slightly red, has a very rich depth and glowing color, with a gentle mix of yellows and reds. However, it avoids the orange hues very well, which is why we often use it in conjunction with other various stains to achieve a rich but fairly cool and neutral gray at times.

It’s a cooler kind of red/yellow mix than a stain like Early American, so we prefer it when trying to achieve a natural stained look while not going super yellow or orange.

Dark wood stain colors: Dark Walnut

Dark Walnut is probably the coolest brown profile of any wood stain out there. Like Cherry, it lacks the orange glaze coloring typical of many wood stains. However, it also has very little noticeable red undertones.

If it were any cooler, it would begin moving into the gray scale of browns, so this is a great stain for those looking to have the warmth of a traditional brown without any of the sometimes dated honey and gold coloring.

It’s a bit of an updated brown, departing from the overtly warm browns and golds of the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.

Medium wood stain colors: English Chestnut

English Chestnut is a rich, classic, and down-the-middle brown with a slight hint of red that comes out most in the Oaks and Cedars.

It’s not overly orange or yellow, but it isn’t lacking in warmth either. It’s a must-have color in your sample collection when trying to narrow down your options, and serves as a helpful baseline for comparison with more adventurous options.

Medium-to-light wood stain: Golden Oak

Golden Oak is a timeless classic. It’s a very common hardwood flooring stain, and works well as a darker option on rough sawn lumber. It will stay fairly light in color on smooth cut lumbers like pine and spruce boards, though, so make sure you test this one on the exact material you’ll be using to see how it takes.

Rough cut cedar will get very dark with Golden Oak, but smooth cut Cedar will stay pretty light, even with multiple coats. Like English Chestnut, this one is a fairly medium baseline, though it will have a little more warmth on the yellow side.

Medium wood stain colors: Provincial

Provincial may not seem different enough from Golden Oak for many people to try, but when you see it across a larger swath of wood and compare it, you’ll see enough difference in it’s pallet that you’ll be glad you tried it. It moves slightly away from the yellow and lightens in color a bit, but the difference is subtle.

Medium-tone wood stain: Special Walnut

Special Walnut is a reddish brown similar to Cherry, though it’s a bit lighter. It’s a great stain to choose when trying to avoid a yellow profile while still keeping that warm stained look.

It will yellow if a highly pigmented oil-based polyurethane is applied to it, though, so if you really like this color for its lack of yellows, go with a water-based clear polyurethane to preserve it’s coloring. This is definitely a must for the collection of samples.

Light wood stain: Early American

Early American is the color you’d expect to see from a stain with the name of Golden Oak. It has all the warm yellows and true browns you’re looking for with that classic 1800s California Bungalow or Midwestern Craftsman house.

Depending on the wood you are staining, it can even move towards a slight greenish undertone, so be careful to test this one on a large section of wood that incorporates varying grain widths and maybe a knot or two.

This will help you really know how it’s going to respond so you’re not regretting it later. It’s a beautiful stain when used in the right context.

What are the best ways to stain wood?

There are a few common applications methods for wood stains, and they all achieve different results.

Which one you choose will need to be based on how dark you want the stain to appear. It’s very important that your stain samples be applied in the same way you intend to actually finish the wood since the methods for applying the stain will yield very different results from each other.

If you’re into a lighter and more subdued version of the stain you select, you’ll want to use a paper towel or tightly knit rag.

This will keep the quantity of the stain going onto the wood to a minimum while still providing even coverage. This method will take longer but keep the amount of stain low.

For a middle ground level of depth, use a textured rag. More stain will be held in the rag’s fibers when you dip it into the stain can, so this will be a faster process involving less time spent loading up the rag, but it will also yield a deeper and darker finished product.

For a fully saturated and very deep representation of your selected stain, use a brush intended for use with stain. This method will apply the most stain to the wood and will take the least amount of time to coat your project.

However, brush staining takes some skill in the application process. When a large quantity of stain hits a piece of wood and sits there, edge lines can appear around the puddle of stain, and they can be very difficult to remove unless they’re brushed out within seconds of their initial application.

For best results, try not to load up the brush with too much stain by gently wiping the brush against the side of your can, allowing excess stain to drip back into the can.

When applying, don’t set your brush down on the wood in one location and leave it there. The brush should only make contact with the wood when it is in motion, moving across the face of the wood back and forth, and only in the direction of the grain.

The same principle applies to removing the brush from the surface of the wood. As your brush moves across the face of the wood, slowly pull it off the wood while it is still in motion with the grain. If you stop your brush completely, and then pull it up, you’ll likely have a spot of more heavily applied stain that will not be easy to hide.

How the stain colors look on pine

From left to right: Cherry, Dark Walnut, Early American, English Chestnut, Golden Oak, Provincial, and Special Walnut

How the stained wood looks on spruce

From left to right: Cherry, Dark Walnut, Early American, English Chestnut, Golden Oak, Provincial, and Special Walnut

How wood stains look on red oak and white oak

From left to right: Cherry, Dark Walnut, Early American, English Chestnut, Golden Oak, Provincial, and Special Walnut

How wood stains look on cedar

From left to right: Cherry, Dark Walnut, Early American, English Chestnut, Golden Oak, Provincial, and Special Walnut

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