# Staining Poplar to look like Cherry



## PaintGuy321 (Apr 15, 2008)

Trim is poplar and bldr wants it stained to match cherry kitchen cabinets. I've heard some talk about a "spit" coat of stain and don't wipe down. Any advice on this technique (or another) would be welcome. 

Thanks!


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## Double-A (Jul 3, 2006)

Damned odd. Around here, poplar is considered a paint grade trim material, not a stain grade.

I've never seen greenish red cherry cabinets, but to each his own. 

We have had to refinish some maple cabinets to a walnut before. The painters had to get the industrial coating folks to mix up some dye in lacquer, as maple just does not take stain well. The stuff had to be stirred very well with drill mounted stirrer before and during shooting or the dye would clump like crazy and come out blotchy. 

They had to jack with tips like crazy to find one that would give good coverage. The one the SW folks recommended had too large a fan to suit the painters skills/preferences.

They shot a clear sealer coat of lacquer first before the color coat and shot another clear over that sanding between coats. It wasn't cheap but looked like a million bucks when they were through.


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## DeanV (Feb 20, 2006)

I have never done it, but if the poplar is clear, I have heard it can look a lot like cherry.

For maple, spray dye stains are the way to go.


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## Jonesey (Jul 7, 2006)

Oil wiping stains are easies to tint. Laquer stains can be tinted, but it takes an HVLP to do it well, and even then you can still see some of the spray pattern at spots. What you do is take a piece of that cherry cabinet and a piece of the poplar trim to the paint store and have them match the stain. You're only looking for the right color family. As long as it's close you can tweak it. 

When you get your stain to the jobsite, if you're using oil wiping stain, open the can and let it breathe a little bit to get rid of some of the thinners in the stain. Run it through your rig, and spray it on a sample board, nice and even. Then, with a dry brush, stand over it and wait till it just starts to dry out. Now brush with the grain taking off only as much stain as needed to lighten the coverage to get to the right color. Now brush against the grain with just the tips of the brush, then with the grain with just the tips of the brush (rag out the brush as necessary). Work it until the stain doesn't pull back from the grain features (knots etc). Once that stain is thick enough, it will stay right where you put it.

Work one board a few times and you'll get the hang of it. It's not that hard. Just make sure you don't leave a piece of trim too early. 

Poplar is actually pretty easy to get really dark. It's got a nice porous grain that accepts stain pretty easily. If you need it really dark, you could try wetting your trim down and pre-sanding to raise the grain up a little bit. Just use a damp cloth and run it over your trim, then sand by hand w/ 100 grit and long strokes. It'll open up that wood and let the stain penetrate much better. Just make sure you sand it all.


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## Railman (Jan 19, 2008)

It's fairly easy to do poplar to look like cherry. Most people couldn't tell the
difference when done. It's the red in the stain that kills the green/yellow in poplar. We use water born stains. Some parts are dipped, & wiped. Some are dipped & spun, some are just sprayed. In the end they all come out nice & even. 

As far as poplar looking green, it only happens when you do clear finishes. Even just a little red in the stain mix will cancel a little green on medium tone stains.

If using oil stains, just brush on, & wipe off. You don't need to let it soak, unless you want it really dark. 
Joe


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## mickeyco (May 13, 2006)

I don't know about poplar, it doesn't stain well at all but I have used gel stains that have polyurethane in them that will give light colored wood a cherry look.


.


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## Frankawitz (Jun 17, 2006)

When I have to match a stain it is best to mix colors, I have done poplar many time this was used in the 1920's cause there was a lot of it and it was cheap, and it milled out nice, I would use Mini wax stains or Masters stains oil. I would also use Cherry and some Mahogany stain and mix it 2 to 1, 2 parts cherry and 1 part mahogany stir them together then use a clean white rag do a test spot see if the stain is close to your color, I would also use Shellac orange or yellow this will give the wood a rich finish, then sand(220 black paper) in between two coats of shellac, then get your Varnish two coats. steel wool between coats.:thumbsup:

www.frankawitz.net


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## Double-A (Jul 3, 2006)

This is why we love our subcontractors. Yes, we could use a paint brush and call ourselves painters for a day, but there is so much more to it than I will ever know.

So much better and easier to turn the pros loose on it and have a good nights rest knowing it was done right and will last.


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

The best way to match cherry cabs is to buy cherry trim
Tell your cheap builder to pony up


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

Double-A said:


> So much better and easier to turn the pros loose on it and have a good nights rest knowing it was done right and will last.


I'd have to think this is a cheap azz builder who figured he'd cheap out on the trim, buy some green crap, and once again....(everybody together now)
Have The Painter Fix It

I somehow doubt he's willing to pay for a pro stain guy to work some magic

If I'm wrong, sorry 'bout that
But there's MUCH better woods to fake a cherry with


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## Jonesey (Jul 7, 2006)

slickshift said:


> But there's MUCH better woods to fake a cherry with


Yeah, Clear Alder looks a lot more like Cherry. Same grain and closer coloration.


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## PaintGuy321 (Apr 15, 2008)

Everyone - thanks for the posts and comments. All we can do is do the best we can with what we've got to work with. HO has budget too and builder is just as frustrated with this as anyone. 

I've never met a challenge I can't tackle yet. 

Jonesey - I'm going to give your technique a try. 

Thanks!


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## trptman (Mar 26, 2007)

I used to refinish a lot of antique furniture and had to mix and match new and old wood for repairs often and had to match colors etc. Might too late to be of any help, but if you have a couple of days to order some stain, I've got good results with Mohawk alcohol based penetrating stains. You can intermix them to get a custom color with what you are trying to match.
They work like a dye (so the species of wood is less critical) than just leaving pigment lodged in the pores of the wood like your typical minwax (for example) oil stains.

there are other techniques using oil stains I've had success with, but doing a bunch of woodwork might turn into too much labor just because of the scale of what you are doing. If you can afford (or the HO actually) to take the time, you can get good results with poplar. Poplar is one of those woods that can be stained to "mimic" (in color if not in grain pattern) a couple of desireable woods. I've seen poplar more commonly used as "poor man's walnut". It doesnt look half bad (not as good as real walnut of course) if done right as either cherry or walnut.
If the cabinets are real cherry, everyone will be looking at those. the coloration in the rest of the trim will just be there to complement the cabinets. Unless you are building some elaborate details in the house out of this "fake" cherry trim.

as far as the budget, it could be worse. they could want you to try to match the cabinets using knotty pine instead of poplar


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

slickshift said:


> I'd have to think this is a cheap azz builder who figured he'd cheap out on the trim, buy some green crap, and once again....(everybody together now)
> Have The Painter Fix It
> 
> I somehow doubt he's willing to pay for a pro stain guy to work some magic
> ...





PaintGuy321 said:


> All we can do is do the best we can with what we've got to work with. HO has budget too and builder is just as frustrated with this as anyone.


Oh, sorry...cheap azz *homeowner* who figured he'd cheap out on the trim, buy some green crap, and once again....(everybody together now)
Have The Painter Fix It

I'd suggest hiring a stain maestro
The good ones aren't cheap
The bad ones take so much time/testing that they aren't cheap either
Or you could get lucky...or good enough...early enough to make it work
Good luck


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## house bldr (Jul 11, 2006)

You may want to consider a wood conditioner before you stain,it basically seals the softer spots so they don't take to much stain and look splotchy.I have heard gel stains and sprayed on is also effective.Poplar really does look nice if it is stained properly


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## [email protected] (Mar 1, 2008)

Have done it with lac stain from SW. it has been a few years back but it came out fine. Ran stain and sealer and and a top coat of Lac. The green lost it self in the red. and you couldn't tel if it had been a green board or cream color. Mite have been a little bite browner. I would stain it in a heart beat for my house. don't see the need for a spit coat. but if I did would most likely take some of Zinners base coat and do something like 50/50 with alcohol


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Sure it can be done. But by the time it is it would have been cheaper to just buy the Cherry. The white and green areas of the Cherry have drastically different absorbtion rate for stains and dyes. First thing I would do is apply a red tinted wash coat. You'll have to experiment with the red to find out what will effectively kill the green. Then apply your dye with you spray apperatus. Then using your clear finish up the job. You may need to tint the clear if the color needs to be darker.


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## capital city (Mar 29, 2008)

slickshift said:


> Oh, sorry...cheap azz *homeowner* who figured he'd cheap out on the trim, buy some green crap, and once again....(everybody together now)
> Have The Painter Fix It
> 
> I'd suggest hiring a stain maestro
> ...


Im with Slickshift. I just built my own house last year. I had a budget and I busted right through it where I needed to to get the house I wanted. Why should you bust your brains and balls to overcome the HO's shortcomings, I didnt expect anyone to do it for me. Plus you only have about a 10% chance of them actually appreciating your extra effort.


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## Railman (Jan 19, 2008)

I find 3/4 of the posts in this thread hilarious! Any painter that can't do poplar to look like cherry, shouldn't call themselves a painter. It's not that difficult.

Like I said before, it's the lighter tone stains that become a problem with poplar...not cherry! The red kills the green.

As far as using cherry instead of poplar for the trim...try a cost factor of about 3x for the package. So if your trim package costs 10,000 in poplar, cherry would run about 30,000. So now where do you make up for an additional 20,000?
Get a clue!
Joe


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Railman said:


> I find 3/4 of the posts in this thread hilarious! Any painter that can't do poplar to look like cherry, shouldn't call themselves a painter. It's not that difficult.
> 
> Like I said before, it's the lighter tone stains that become a problem with poplar...not cherry! The red kills the green.
> 
> ...


 
First if all, how many times have you done this on a large scale? It may not be difficult but it is not easy either. Each board will have its own characteristics of absorption and may not just go along with the "standard" schedule you have set up. Also, Cherry is not 3x the cost of Poplar, unless you are getting ripped off. It is slightly over 2x the cost. If you use Cherry then you put it up and stain and clearcoat. If you use Poplar you have to add 3 more steps (minimum) to that schedule and if your labor prices are like mine, $20,000 isn't going to last all that long. Plus I wouldn't expect a "painter" to really know all this stuff, I would expect a finisher to have this knowledge. Keep laughing.:shutup:


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