Teak Stain on White Oak
You can stain Oak for a color match to Teak, but the grain patterns are totally different. October 28, 2008
Question
Any ideas on staining white or red oak to look like teak?
Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor A:
This is certainly harder than the typical "How do I stain maple to look like cherry?" The grains are not similar in any way, shape, or form. Teak has numerous swirls, black highlights, and just plain irregular grain. The oaks are consistent in color as well as grain.
From the original questioner:
The only teak I've met was in a small end table the clients showed me. They are okay with either oak or teak but they want to match the color of what they already have (kind of honey color), I'm guessing its natural color. With the price difference between oak and teak...
From contributor P:
I have used teak NGR dye on birch, pine and maple to get the colour: thin with lacquer thinners to get concentration needed. As said, you won't get a grain match, but my clients were happy.
From contributor I:
We do a few teak projects a year lately and are just finishing up a kitchen that we did in teak. As to the cost, white oak can be had for around $3/BF. The teak we just bought was 26 dollars/BF. That was for the original Burmese teak. You can get teak grown in plantations in S America and Africa for about 12-14 dollars/BF but it has different growth and grain markings. We ended up staining and finishing some mahogany (the cheap stuff from the lumber yard, not the nice, expensive imported stuff). We ended up using the ICA CNA stain number 2006 and then clearing it. The color was there but as was mentioned and would hold true with oak, the grain pattern will be nowhere near the look of teak.
