Pine for First Fix?

[patp]

We have oak windows and want to use natural wood for the first (and second) fix carpentry. One carpenter has suggested that we could use pine and stain it. A self builder down the road has suggested the same thing but I haven't seen it. Will it be possible to make it look like light oak? I have googled and there is a suggestion that several processes of treatment are needed but that it can look ok. Opinions?

[patp]

Just seen that it is from an American woodworking magazine.

 

our staining process includes four ingredients: water-based wood conditioner, water-soluble wood dye, dewaxed shellac and oil-based glaze (see Sources, below). Our process isn’t fast, because there are several steps. But it isn’t hard, and it’s home-shop friendly. You don’t need any special finishing equipment, just brushes and rags.

 

Does this translate into products available over here?

 

The full article is here   https://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/aw-extra-101013-staining-pine/

 

[PeterW]

1 hour ago, patp said:

We have oak windows and want to use natural wood for the first (and second) fix carpentry. One carpenter has suggested that we could use pine and stain it. A self builder down the road has suggested the same thing but I haven't seen it. Will it be possible to make it look like light oak? I have googled and there is a suggestion that several processes of treatment are needed but that it can look ok. Opinions?

What do you mean by first fix carpentry as that is not normally your visible elements with the base exception of a staircase. If you are talking about doors, skirts and archs etc then you could stain and oil pine to look similar to oak but you would need to be very careful as it may all end up looking different as some woods absorb stains differently. Also by the time you’ve done the finishing with coloured oils and so on, you may find the price for oak isn’t as bad as you first thought ..!!

[patp]

Door linings, window cills before plastering. Your comments are what is worrying me. The link tells you of the process to stain it and it seems a lot of effort. 

[Redoctober]

The other thing you need to factor in is the appearance of the two woods mentioned. Pine in my opinion, can be very knotty and surely regardless of the staining process, these will show up. I have oak throughout and yes, albeit, a costly item, the appearance is far superior in my mind than pine. You often find folk opt for pine or even MDF, if they are going to paint it, thus avoiding its appearance.

 

Examples shown below 

Planed Natural Pine Skirting

 

If price is an issue then the following may be a compromise?

Light Oak Laminate Skirting Board

 

[patp]

Hm, yes I see now that there is a lot of difference. One of our carpenters was going to bring us some samples, as alternative to oak, to look at but has not done so yet.

[Temp]

Perhaps look at oak veneered mdf? I mean for internal use.

 

Edited June 19, 2021 by Temp

[BMcN]

I went for oak veneer for all my architraves, skirtings and half my door casings (different wall thickness meant the veneered casing was not suitable for all openings).

 

Stairs and window cills are real oak. 

 

All doors, architrave and skirtings are by Deanta.  I think casings were around £40 - 50 ea.  Architrave was only about £39 for a pair (enough to do both sides).  Skirting was around £7 per meter. 

 

 

 

[Makeitstop]

Mixing oak and pine (even if the pine is stained / dyed) is never going to end well imo.

 

You will never, ever, make pine look like oak. They will also colour differently over time and with exposure to their surroundings. If you cant do it all in oak, I'd only paint the softwood if you have any oak doors or other natural timber surfaces exposed.

 

Trying to mix totally different timbers and attempting to fake a look to match almost invariably looks awful.

Edited June 19, 2021 by Makeitstop

[patp]

Thanks folks. It confirms our misgivings. We are trying to stay away from mdf because of the chemicals used. Haven't really costed out using oak but the sharp intake of breath from the carpenters has made us look around at other alternatives. Painted wood is not an option as we are trying to make the build as maintenance free as possible.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1997/sep/21/antonybarnett.theobserver

[ProDave]

I got a bit creative.

 

Upstairs door frames were made of left over engineered wood flooring, with oak veneered architraves.

 

 

Downstairs, I made a structural door frame of chipboard (strips ripped from P5 flooring) and lined it with 3 lengths of 12mm thick planed Oak to give the finish I wanted.

 

Again using veneered architrave.

 

[patp]

Love those doors!!!

[SteamyTea]

12 hours ago, patp said:

are trying to make the build as maintenance free as possible.

Shadow gaps instead of skirting.

Save twice.

[patp]

Can you do shadow gaps if you do not have plaster board? We are a traditional build with wet plaster over render on our walls.

[PeterW]

55 minutes ago, patp said:

Can you do shadow gaps if you do not have plaster board? We are a traditional build with wet plaster over render on our walls.

Yes if you use stop beads but they would need to be set carefully.
 

Most of the shadow gap beads are designed for use with boards so you would need to discuss with your plasterer if you wanted to use the pre-made ones.