I occasionally get ask if I have any color samples to choose from.
In my business, I custom mix colors for each piece that I work on.
So I only have a few generic samples made up of some basic colors.
When refinishing furniture, you never know what the piece will look like until it is stripped. Because there are so many ways to color and finish furniture. You can take two identical pieces and stain one brown and another golden oak. Then after stripping them they may look similar to each other or completely different. It depends on the finish that was put on over the stain, the drying process, and also the brand and types of stain and finishes. Once a piece has been finished, the wood is sealed. So after stripping a piece it will not absorb stain like it did when the wood was raw. So this is why custom colors have to be made after we see the results of stripping.
This is why I always ask my customers to bring me something they want to match to. Then we do all that is possible to match their choice. It is best to bring something like a drawer, a door, or a small piece with the color they would like to achieve. Sometimes we have to use toners, which is colored lacquers to adjust the colors. This helps a lot.
If I were a furniture manufacture, or a cabinet shop, I would have samples to choose from, because then we are starting out with new wood, and set colors and types of wood to choose from. This is the only time samples make sense. There is just no way I can show a sample and honestly tell my customer your furniture will look just like this sample. Because it might or it might not. This is where the expertise comes in. We have to custom make the colors for each piece in order to get close to the desired effects that the customer wants.
So what I am trying to say, is if I made my samples the same as the furniture being worked on then stripped the sample, it will give an idea of the end results for the piece in question. The problem is we have no idea what kind of stain, curing process, and finish that was used in the first place, so this option would be a big guessing game.
I usually do not have any problems making the colors my customers want. It is not easy to do, but that is why there are re-finishers like me to restore your piece the way you want it. So when it comes to color samples, they just serve no productive purpose for my line of work. They are only used as a guideline in color matching.
