Stain with Poly

[RonB]

We are finishing an open stair rail around our basement stairs. The wood scheme in our new home is dark red oak vs natural finished oak flooring. Provides a very nice contrast. The rail in in a craftsman style that matches the rest of the house. We decided to do the large box newels, heavy rail and foot rail in the darker red, and stain the simple square, rounded balusters in natural stain that matches the floor.

I have had good luck putting MinWax natural on oak + polyurethane to get very close to the floor colors. However, the balusters aren't quite getting there with the natural stain and a couple of coats of wiping poly. Need a little more amber.

Has anyone had experience with adding a drop or two of oil based stain to poly to darken a tad? I have googled several variations of 'poly + stain' but most responses are folks trying to bypass the staining process. We just want to 'kick the color up a notch'.

Any suggestions?

RonB

[jo4hn]

Oil based poly and oil based stain will mix just fine. The key word here is mix(ture) so if it sits a while, stir it (don't shake). oilier than thou, 00 1/2

[SonomaProducts.com]

Oil based stains are pigment stains. While they will mix with poly but the results will be very unpredictable. Transtint liquid dyes will mix with anything but I would suggest using shellac as the base, tinit it as needed, then cover with poly after it dries.

[rnrbrogan]

Hey guys -- Thanks for the input. Actually, shellac might add enough color to do the trick. I have a few left over balusters to experiment with, I'll give both approaches a try.

RonB