Yellow Pine Doors

[Peter Polack]

Roughly 6 or 8 years ago I had all the doors in my condo replaced except the bifold doors on a utility closet. They were unfinished clear, yellow pine. I finished them with Watco Danish Oil in Golden Oak.

Fast forward to today and I'm finally completing the closet, including the doors. Same unfinished, clear pine. I used the same bottle of Watco I had when I oiled the other doors, and followed the directions-shake well before application, two coats, etc.

But they don't look the same as my existing doors. I'm thinking the older doors have "warmed" or yellowed with age as I've read happens with yellow pine and the new doors will eventually catch up.

Comments? Suggestions?

IMG_4554.jpg

[bigbill]

Not sure if it will darken enough. Before retiring from engineering in 2022, I was a plant engineer at American Woodmark which made Woodmark, Shenandoah, and Timberlake cabinets. We used hardwoods like maple and ash, as well as MDF for entry level cabinets. Wood color and porosity for finish depends on the time of year it was harvested. We built "a kitchen at a time," so all the doors were from the same batch from the mill, and they all traveled together down the finishing line, so they all had the identical finish. We also had a shelf life on stains because the pigments would settle out or clump and never make it to the spray nozzle.

Before I was a plant engineer, I was a project engineer at Kimberly-Clark where we made Huggies. The "fluff" in the pad is shredded and pulverized yellow pine.

[jimcav]

possibly the 'shake well', actually needed more mechanical contact with stirring off old pigment settling/sticking inside the can.

barring that, many woods darken with UV exposure, but I have zero experience with pine.

You could get a cheap clamp-on UV grow light/bulb and shine it 24/7 on a spot on the rear where it isn't too noticeable (say near hardware) and see if/how much it darkens.
You don't need or want heat so set it up to make sure you aren't cooking the wood.

If that fails, I'd strip it, do test stain in small area (again rear near hardware), if it isn't great, sand it off, try again, once you get the stain figured, then you can re-finish it

[rwsaunders]

I’ve had hardwoods like cherry and walnut darken over time and any time that I finish softwoods like pine or fir, I use a conditioner before apply a stain and finish. My concern is that the shelf life of Watco Danish Oil is 3 years once opened (see page 2 of the link). Perhaps reach out to Rustoleum to see if this might be your issue, in terms of the pigment remaining consistent in the can.

https://www.rustoleum.com/~/media/Di...Oil_TDS_1.ashx

[Peter Polack]

I’ve had hardwoods like cherry and walnut darken over time and any time that I finish softwoods like pine or fir, I use a conditioner before apply a stain and finish. My concern is that the shelf life of Watco Danish Oil is 3 years once opened (see page 2 of the link). Perhaps reach out to Rustoleum to see if this might be your issue, in terms of the pigment remaining consistent in the can.

https://www.rustoleum.com/~/media/Di...Oil_TDS_1.ashx

Now that you point this out, this is probably what happened in my case; the can sat for several years and the coloring likely settled such that shaking wouldn't loosen it sufficiently.
Fortunately, only one side is stained and waxed. The other side is only stained so I can still add a coat. When I get a new can I'll try to sample some on an inconspicuous edge.

Thanks for pointing that out.