DIY Stain

If you do a lot of projects or maybe you don’t want to spend a lot of money on supplies.   This homemade stain works great!  We have used it on quite a bit of things already.

You can make pretty much any shade of stain you’d like just by using the things you may already have at home.   You can also make colored stain by adding a paint color.

Supplies needed:

  • Glass jar with lid. 
  • Steel wool or old rusty nails
  • Distilled Vinegar 
  • Disposable gloves
  • Wet rag and/or paper towels to clean up any spills
  • Stir stick
  • Piece of wood or your project piece
  • Scrap piece of wood

Optional Supplies:

  • Approx. ½ cup Coffee
  • Tea bags
  • Paint – color of choice.  (you can use oil paint, acrylic or color pigment)

Tips –

  • Test the stain on a scrap piece of wood before you start your project. Remember, each type of wood reacts differently. You may not like the color.
  • Cover your work surface to protect the table you are working on from damage. 
  • Work in an open well-ventilated area, such as outside. 

  Add the steel wool or old rusty nails. Next, in your glass jar pour in the vinegar; I usually fill till it is about ¾ of the way full, leaving room to add other ingredients. The longer the steel wool or nails sits in the vinegar, the darker the stain color wood be.  It also depends on the type of wood you use.  Different types of wood will give you different results.

Next add the coffee or tea bags. The coffee or tea bags will give the stain a darker brown color.   Now if you’d like a different color (white, blue, etc.), you will add your choice of paint instead of the coffee or tea bags.    

            When finished adding your ingredients, put the lid on the jar and let it sit for a couple of days.  The longer it sits, the darker the color.  My son and I made several different stains and forgot about them. They sat for a couple weeks.  The stain we made with just vinegar and steel wool was a beautiful dark greyish brown color. 

It was actually quite fun to make. My son and I both got to learn something new. Feel free to send me pictures of your stain colors. I’d love to see what you guys come up with!