How to lighten up wood stain?

[elfa]

I'm about to stain some wood with Minwax 'Red Oak' stain. It's a bit too dark so I added some paint thinner to it to make it lighter. The wood test didn't seem the worse for wear. Is this the proper way of making a stain lighter or is there a better way?

thanks

elfa

[George M. Kazaka]

What you did will work, but the better way is to mix it with minwax, Natural which is strictely the vehicle base with no color in it.

[Bay Area Dave]

It'll work. I've done the same thing. In fact I've used the Red to tone down some oak that is greener than the rest of the project. A bit on a rag wiped across the previously stained wood does wonders to match unevenly colored boards. I did that with baseboards and just a bit ago on crown molding.

dave

elfa wrote:

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

It always works for me, for dyes and pigment stains.

Barry