Applejack stain?

[Sean Keesler]

I bought an old house that is finished in an arts and crafts style. All of the woodwork has a interesting stain on it that the previous owner described to me as "applejack". Apparently it was a popular color back in the day, but I sure can't find it now. She had told me that you can make it by mixing some other modern stains together. Does anyone know how to create this color?

It is a dark stain that I would describe as very dark purplish brown. The thing we started to love about it is that in areas of wear (around doorknobs and stair railings for example), the purple nature of the stain really shows up and gives the house some nice character.

[Joseph Meehan]

Duplicating it may be difficult, especially the wear feature. Different wood will take a stain different and any new wood with new stain is not going to match any old wood-stain.

I suggest you shop around at some of the old paint stores or hardware stores in your area. With luck one of them will have the old master who remembers the formula. Next best is someone who knows the art and can do a good job of matching the old stain. Neither is likely to be a perfect match, but they may be good.

[Doug Kanter]

Is there any way to take a sample to a REAL paint store? Not one of the big home supply places, in other words. The specialty stores can usually custom mix stains and match your color.

[DanG]

The purple color sounds a bit like an old formula that results from vinegar with nails thrown in. Let the vinegar (acid) eat the nails, several weeks.

As with any stain work, try on scrap of the same species.

Report back if this seems to give you what you are looking for.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) [e-mail]

[David Martel]

Sean,

Are you sure he referred to the stain? A quick Google showed that there is a wood called applejack.

Dave M.

[Sean Keesler]

Yes...the previous owner said they had the stain made. The wood is likely yellow pine (I know, not exactly arts and crafts materials...)