# Poplar stained to look like oak



## Charlie75 (Mar 14, 2012)

I am almost finished with the construction of a storage cabinet to go in our bedroom. The rest of the furniture is stained to look like oak. I want to see if I can make this new cabinet look a little like oak. I probably can't match the other furniture perfectly but would like to come as close as I can.

Any suggestions?

Charlie


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## pmayer (Jan 3, 2010)

Hi Charlie,

I would grab a couple pieces of scrap poplar from your project, along with a piece of furniture (or a part of one) that you are trying to match, and bring them to a good paint store and have them create a custom stain for your project. Hirshfields provides this service for free, and perhaps others do as well. Some charge a small fee for this service. That way, you will have a good match, and you will also have the recipe for future batches if necessary.

With poplar, I believe that you will also want to use a pre-stain conditioner to minimize the blotching. They can provide you with some guidance on this at the paint store, and also use it in their matching process because it might impact the formulation of your stain.


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## reedwood (Jan 27, 2011)

It sounds like a big cabinet. More to see every imperfection in a faux finish.

I assume you are planning to use a graining tool, maybe tooth brush spray for effect. It's not easy to get oak grain right without a lot of practice and an artist's touch. You could end up with a real mess.

It doesn't help if you have a perfect example of the real thing nearby to compare it to. Not to mention, you can't fake the indented grain of oak.

Poplar is a great wood for furniture that is painted. You can stain it too, maybe do an antique effect, leaving stain in the cracks. But it would be tough to make it look like oak. some would disagree …they're good at it.

It seems like oak can get overwhelming when everything is oak, stained the same color. I wonder if it wouldn't be better to do a different finish - more adapted to the poplar, that would also compliment the other oak pieces. They even do that in kitchens sometimes.

Just a thought.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Poplar is never going to look like oak, you can match the color of the stain you have on the oak cabinets but the grain is totally different. Another thing to consider is that poplar tends to blotch so you need a conditioner on it before you try and stain it, I prefer Charles Neil's Blotch control.


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## dhazelton (Feb 11, 2012)

You say the rest of the furniture is stained to 'look like oak' - not necessarily actual oak. What kind of wood is it? You're just going to have to buy some stains and experiment with some scrap poplar. It may be a Golden Oak stain, Red Oak, a blending or or a combination of several colors.


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## LeeBarker (Aug 6, 2010)

Oak has two colors. +1 for Mark.

Kindly,

Lee


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## bbc557ci (Sep 20, 2012)

I've tried it. As mentioned above you can get pretty close to the color, but it will not look like oak.


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## Charlie75 (Mar 14, 2012)

Ok, guys. Some great advice. I did not mean to give the impression that I wanted to match the grain. I have worked with oak a lot so I know the grain is a whole different animal. I only desire to come close with the color.

Mark, great suggestion. I had not thought of that. Any suggestions?

The guys at my local Woodcraft store have told me that I should use a conditioner first which I have purchased.

Charlie


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