Outdoor table matching stain

Hi all,

Bit different but hoping someone can help with a dilemma I have with my outdoor table and chairs please.

We bought a heavy duty outdoor table and chairs a few years ago and it lives in our pergola area which has a dodgy roof that leaks, I plan to fix this asap but it has been like this for a while, well it has damaged our table because of the water damage there were water marks and it had faded to a different colour to the rest of the table which wasn't affected. I have sanded back the area where the damage occurred and it has sort of come back to the bare natural colour of timber.

I was under the impression I could take a sample of the colour stain into Bunnings and have the stain matched, well apparently not. The lady said that they do not match stain colours and tried to just match the stain from the sample displays they have hanging near their stains. In the end she asked what type of wood it was , I don't know but on the receipt from purchase it is stated as and Ironwood outdoor setting. She suggested Merbu as she said it would be darker on harder woods compared to pine or other soft woods. Anyhow got it home and have tried a few samples and it isn't quite there, it sort of matches but looks more brown against sort of a reddish colour in it also. I then tried Jarrah as putting a sample of our table against the small display board it also looked pretty close, but when applied to a section it is definitely more of a rich red compared to our existing stain.

Would love to know a fool proof way if any that I can be closer in matching the existing stain if possible, otherwise I'm going to spend an absolute fortune on sample pots and will have to keep sanding it back to re-apply another stain/brand when it doesn't match. Any advice much appreciated

Thanks all
Geoff

The fool proof way is to mix your own stain checking as you go, adding different toners to achieve the colour, expensive option for one little job, sand the entire top back and stain with something that is close

As it's outdoors, odds are good that the overall colour has faded since new due to UV.

If you carefully match a new stain to the existing colour it's likely that in a few years it'll also fade and no longer match, so you'll basically be back at square one.

In general it's best to do as China said: sand, re-stain & re-finish whole surface.

Thank you both for the reply.

Not all of the table surface is damaged so it's not the whole thing that needs to be re-stained.

Can I mix say the jarrah and the merbau to get something I'm satisfied with? As I said the merbau is close but it is brown and lacks the red tinge to it like the remainder of the setting.

Thanks