# Has anyone else have color change with Minwax Gunstock 231



## kevintunis (Oct 14, 2010)

I purchased 5 -1 gallon cans of Minwax Gunstock 231 to do my hardwood floors (red oak) 3 of the cans I have put on have a nice golden brown tone. I have just a little bit of my floor to finish and the last 2 - 1 gallon cans have a lot of red so much so that it does not match the rest of my floor.

Has anyone else have a color change with Minwax Gunstock 231?

How can I match the Gunstock I used in the previous 3- 1 gallon cans?

I have also posted this question over on Minwax site hoping to get a answer.
http://www.minwax.com/bbs/index.cfm?frmid=5&tpcid=62347


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

I had a similar problem with a lot of Cabot deck stains. I got a big box store to "match" the color, then had them make up several gallons. Although the "match" wasn't really a match, all the blends looked the same. That's a drag. I hope you get it resolved.


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## kevintunis (Oct 14, 2010)

Here is a photo of the difference









bentlyj I should of mixed the stain in a five gallon bucket it would of been more uniform in color - just was not thinking about that at the time. I have 3 different batch numbers - will check that out.


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## kevintunis (Oct 14, 2010)

I had finish the lighter color poly as I need tp wait to stain the smaller area at a later date which I started on today. All the stain was purchased on the same day and each can was stirred. Since I stopped at a entry way I thought that it would be all right to poly what was done and stain and poly this little room last.


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## childress (Sep 14, 2008)

This happened to me once with paint. Definitely am mixing all together from now on. What a bummer…

Could it have possibly been a miss label you think?


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

Man that diffference is huge!! I think the cans are mislabled - sure we usually mix cans together to ensure small differences aren't a problem but that is just the wrong color - more like a red mahoghany or something.


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## Jack_T (Feb 6, 2010)

You may want to contact minwax customer service and see if they can help.

Have you tried buying another can of stain to see if it has the same problem?

I agree with all about boxing, remember you should also box your paint when house painting.


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## kevintunis (Oct 14, 2010)

Comparing the colors to the sample stains on the website http://www.minwax.com/wood-products/stains-color-guide/ I would say the last 2-1 gallon cans were Sedona Red 222 or Red Mahogany 225 than Gunstock 231.


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## fussy (Jan 18, 2010)

Kevin,

I'm using gunstock on red oak stair treads I'm making and they look like the redder example of your flooring. Having said that, if all labels are the same, there was a mixup at the factory. How to resolve that now? This is why I was taught that when using multiple cans of paint to mix them all together then pour into a gallon container as needed. That way any minor inconsistencies would be eliminated and a major one, such as yours, would be caught before it was too late. Perhaps Minwax can guide you in a way to blend what you have. They should even compensate you for the cost involved; material only, of course, as the disclaimer on the label limits their liability.

Steve


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## kevintunis (Oct 14, 2010)

Tried a scrap piece of the flooring from the older bundles used in the first rooms this is the one on the bottom right. The one on the bottom left is from a newer bundle of red oak flooring. I used the same stain (stirred consistently) on both of the woods. I also tried Minwax Golden Oak this is very close so I might just go with this to finish out the floor (no picture of the oak stain).


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## NEvans (Oct 11, 2013)

Kevin, How did you end up fixing your problem? I'm running into the exact same thing… The floors are finished in the gunstock and when I bought the stain to do the stairs it came out bright red. Was it a bad can or did you sand it down and use something else to blend it close to the actual gunstock color? Thanks

NE


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## kevintunis (Oct 14, 2010)

NEvans What I did to kind of match the floor was to not stir the Gunstock stain it does come out close to what I stained it before.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

I rest my case about MW products. Thumbs down.
Bill


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## NEvans (Oct 11, 2013)

Interesting… I'll give it a try. Thanks


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## shawnmasterson (Jan 24, 2013)

you got 2 different colors. The redder color is gunstock. I would talk to the store you got the cans from and see what they think. If you have the cans I would show it to them. sounds like a mis label to me.


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## Tooch (Apr 6, 2013)

I recently just redid my steps and had the same problem… here's a picture of them.










Notice the different coloration between treads and risers? I actually used the *SAME CAN *of stain for both. I apparently didn't mix it up enough when doing the risers, and the red didn't blend in enough.

Normally when I use Minwax Gunstock I get an red/orange color… I would say the first cans were either miss-labeled or not mixed up enough.


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## Tooch (Apr 6, 2013)

BTW I used Minwax Red Chestnut for the stairs.


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

I have had very poor luck with Minwax gunstock stain. It's the ONLY stain of theirs I would never buy again. Not sure why, but it didn't come out anything like the picture.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

MW Gunstock is my favorite of all their stains because I get very consistent results from can to can. Guess I am just lucky after reading the above posts.


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