I am having my dining room chairs refinished and my refinisher gave me the option of natural oil finish or a stain. He somewhat explained the difference, but I’m not sure which I should do. My only concern is that the chair be refinished to the exact same color/stain/finish they are now. I do know there are two different types of wood on the chairs. The sides and back are walnut and the rest of the frame is pecan. Any advice?
Best answer about What is the difference between natural oil finish and a stain on wood furniture?
Answer by dusty8940
A natural finish is a clear coating. The furniture would be natural color of the wood. Staining is changing the color of the wood to whatever shade you want. I would just tell him that you want it to look the way it did.
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Hi there,
it depends on the shade your chairs initially had.
Natural oil finishing = wood preserves its natural color.
Stain finishing = wood gets a different shade. In fact, what you get with this one isn’t by far the same as the original material. An oak stain on walnut, for example, looks like oak, but you actually can tell the difference.
So you have to negotiate: if your original finishing was a natural oil finishing, stick to that. If not, simply tell your refinisher exactly what you want. It’s possible that he explained that to you because he already knows that what you want is not possible. Finishing a piece of furniture has its limits.
LloydBurrell