Colour Swatch Guide

Colour swatches in our colour charts and labels have been created as follows.

1. Small blocks of untreated softwood cut and painted up in 2 coats of stain.
2. Wooden swatches photographed in controlled studio environment.
3. Photographic images checked on-screen and tweaked to colour match stained wood swatches.
4. Digital images printed on test proofs to check colours match those on the wooden swatches with adjustments made if required.
5. Brochure print proof produced and colour charts checked to ensure colour swatches match wooden swatches.
6. Final adjustments made to digital colour swatches so printed output matches colour of wooden swatches with final digital images being produced.

However, although the colour swatches and colour charts are a very accurate representation of wood stain colour, there are still a number of factors that will affect colours.

1. The only true and controlled representation of wood stain colours is in the printed brochure and printed colour charts produced by Protek. Any files printed externally may produce different colour results due to calibration variances of printers and type of paper stock used.
2. When paper fades the colour swatches on colour charts will be affected.
3. Colour swatches have been created using untreated softwood with 2 coats of wood stain applied.

- Light colours and clear coatings applied to tantalised timber will be affected by the green hue of the pressure treatment.
- If colours are applied to dark weathered timber the wood stain coating will look darker than when applied to fresh light softwood.
- These are high-build wood stains so if more than 2 coats are applied the colour will be deeper and more solid/intense/
- Wood stains applied to darker hardwoods will have a different hue.
- If wood stains are applied on the top of old coatings the colour of the old coating will influence the top coat colour.

4. When viewing colour charts on computer screens colours are affected by VDU interpretation and calibrated pre-sets, and even the type of computer you’re using (Mac vs. PC). Graphics cards and software packages will also influence colour representation.

Colour charts are created as a guide for colour selection and if you need to know exactly what colour a stain will produce on your timber product, sample pots are available for all colours in all of the ranges.