Am I right in thinking that water based varnish does not colour pine to
the same extent that the oil based varnish does ?

I've 6m long by 1m wide corridor that is about to have a runner carpet
laid in it with about 100mm each side exposed. The floors are old pine
that I have sanded back. Experience with oil based varnish means that
the wood will take on a 'polished' pine look; if I use water based
varnish on the grounds that it will dry much quicker and also the
useage is low, should I stain the wood first ?

Thanks

Rob

wrote in message
oups.com...
Am I right in thinking that water based varnish does not colour pine to
the same extent that the oil based varnish does ?

I've 6m long by 1m wide corridor that is about to have a runner carpet
laid in it with about 100mm each side exposed. The floors are old pine
that I have sanded back. Experience with oil based varnish means that
the wood will take on a 'polished' pine look; if I use water based
varnish on the grounds that it will dry much quicker and also the
useage is low, should I stain the wood first ?

Thanks

Rob


Depends what colour you want the wood! I have gone for the antique pine
look throughout my house and stain accordingly. Antique pine is quite a
subtle
stain, but I'm not unhappy with the effect on my floorboards. In fact, my
situation
is identical to yours, I sanded the hall to lay a runner carpet, stained the
pine floorboards
and gave it several coats of water-based acrylic varnish. My personal view
is that since
old pine does darken with age, it is permissile to go straight to that state
with stain. I am
also unsure whether pine will darken naturally when protected by varnish, so
by staining it
anyway I am hedging my bets.

Andy.

Depends what colour you want the wood! I have gone for the antique pine
look throughout my house and stain accordingly. Antique pine is quite a
subtle
stain, but I'm not unhappy with the effect on my floorboards. In fact, my
situation
is identical to yours, I sanded the hall to lay a runner carpet, stained the
pine floorboards
and gave it several coats of water-based acrylic varnish. My personal view
is that since
old pine does darken with age, it is permissile to go straight to that state
with stain. I am
also unsure whether pine will darken naturally when protected by varnish, so
by staining it
anyway I am hedging my bets.

Andy.



IME old pine floorboards don't darken further when re-finished. That's a
one off thing that happens with new wood.
Acrylic varnishes don't have the yellow tint of "clear" polyurethanes
but they're not very hard wearing. For edges this probably isn't an
issue, but 2 part acid catalysed varnish (Rustins etc) gives you the
best of both worlds. Quick drying but high solvent content.

Yes it does depend on what is meant by 'antique pine'. If you leave
old unfinished pine long enough it does develop a sort of set honey
colour which is very difficult to reproduce. I got some modern door
facings reasonably close, but when I tried the same mixture for
skirtings it just looked grey because of the poor lighting. I'll
probably go for a 'redder' colour and like you Andy, assume it's not
going to darken itself.

Rob

wrote:
Yes it does depend on what is meant by 'antique pine'. If you leave
old unfinished pine long enough it does develop a sort of set honey
colour which is very difficult to reproduce. I got some modern door
facings reasonably close, but when I tried the same mixture for
skirtings it just looked grey because of the poor lighting. I'll
probably go for a 'redder' colour and like you Andy, assume it's not
going to darken itself.

Rob


People often test their woodstains in daylight and then have to live
with them in the evenings.
That grey look is often due to the surface being too rough so that what
light there is isn't being reflected. Try wetting the surface to get an
idea of what difference a clear varnish would make. I could never
understand how this could change the "colour", but I guess it makes the
surface smoother and hence more reflective.
I'd certainly be careful adjusting the colour even slightly towards red.....