Wainscoting and Baseboards

[stiffinp]

I have a house in Upstate NY built in 1887. During renovating, I uncovered the original wainscotting in the dining room but some needs to be replaced. What wood would have been used for it and the baseboard? The baseboard isn't a fancy design like the rest of the house.

[jklare]

There's really no way to tell without seeing the grain.

[Josiecat]

Wow, that's so cool. Any pictures??

[Luetic]

what ever was handy locally

[wletson]

If you could post a picture, it would most certainly help.

[stiffinp]

Here are 3 pics, front and side profiles.

[sooth]

The beadboard looks like BC Fir, and the baseboard is rather dark, but I think it would be Fir also, since it would need to match with a clear coat (shellac). Fir was the most commonly available wood used for trim, and cabinetry in those days.

[James]

I am not familiar really with fir, we don't see much of it down here. The bead board looks a lot like Southern Yellow pine to me. But fir might look similiar. In the years after the war a lot of wood was cut down here and shipped out I believe, so that might be a possibility for a house that age.

[oldsch]

I have douglas fir wainscoting and trim in my house and have played around with this quite a bit recently. Tough to say if its douglas fir or yellow pine but if you want to try and match it, doug fir is going to be much easier. Old yellow pine will age to look very similar to fir but trying to get new YP to match old YP or DF has been impossible for me. DF has a reddish-brown tint that pretty much makes the look. New YP has bright yellow--orange grain that is tough to subdue.


I used garnet shellac on DF and got very close. I added a bit of TransTint to the final coat of shellac to darken and match the aged trim I had.
Here's what I used:
http://shellac.net/GarnetFlakePic.html
http://www.veneersupplies.com/products/ ... -2-oz.html

I used this mix on cedar (from Lowes) and it's a pretty good match too.

[stiffinp]

I acquired a piece of Douglas fir for the baseboard, big enough in case I screw up and so I can experiment with stain to do the best match I can. I have more wainscoting in the house. Whats the opinion on this? its a little wider than whats downstairs but probably the same stuff.