Old oak floor vs. new oak flooring

[Lynn]

We recently sanded down an old oak floor where a section of it was replaced with new oak flooring. We stained it but the old oak flooring did not take the stain like the new one did. The new flooring is much darker than the old flooring. We like the look of the new oak flooring much better and would like to match the old flooring as close as possible to the darker color. It seems like the old floor doesn't want to take another coat of stain. Any suggestions?

[dpb]

Very difficult to make old wood match new (or vice versa). Undoubtedly the old floor is much closer grain than the new and possible even different. Are both either red or white oak, quarter- or plain-sawn, etc., etc., or do you even know?

Probably the only way will be to use a much darker stain on the old floor and you may even have to go to a semi-transparent or nearly opaque to get the color. Would need much more info to do more than make the general comment.

[Malcolm Hoar]

You could try a non-penetrating stain. For example, one where the stain resides within in the clearcoat (versus in the underlying wood). However, you'll need to try some experiments and I fear you will need at least several gallon cans of pure luck to end up with a decent result.

It may be time to start congratulating yourself on the coolness of the contrasting finishes you now have ;-)

[SonomaProducts.com]

Slightly rougher sanding will make the wood take on more of the stan color. If you sand it too smooth then pegment stains have no where to leave their color. Try sanding a patch with a slightly rougher grit and re-staining. You can alsways smooth out the clear finish on top of the wood after you get the color you want.

Lynn wrote: