Colouring of water / oil based polurethane varnish

[robkgraham]

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

[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.

[Stuart Noble]

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.

[robkgraham]

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

[Stuart Noble]

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.....