What is a Wood Stain?

A wood stain is composed of a colorant suspended (typically pigments) or dissolved (typically dyes) in a solvent (e.g. alcohol, water, petrochemicals). Stains do not penetrate deeply into the pores of wood.

So what kind of stain does Dapwood use?

Well, to be technically correct, Dapwood does not use a stain but a hard wax oil. We are using the term “stain” because everyone knows what you are talking about when you say “stain”. We would get a lot of blank stares if we say “hard wax oil”.

We selected this European hard oil product because it does not contain petrochemicals so it is VOC-free. It does not stink like big box store stains which require respirators to apply. The hard wax oil is plant oil based and, like our linseed oil and teak oil, is applied to the wood, allowed to soak in and then wiped to remove excess oil. It does not cover the wood texture like paint but rather collects more in the grain and brings out the patterns and beauty.

On which hardwood(s) do you offer colors?

Dapwood offers our plant-based stains on oak. We only offer the colors on oak because it honestly doesn’t look that good on our other premium hardwoods. Plus those other hardwoods have wonderful natural color and grain that easily stands on their own.