Help - to determine finish type?

[Brad_bb]

I made some new trim for around the front and rear entry doors of the farm house.  I used some seasoned white oak I resawed from some old thick boards.  My grandpa started renting the farmhouse in about 1950 before he eventually bought it, but I suspect the house was built maybe 15-20 years earlier.  It has actual 2" pine or fir studs and joists in the whole house.  Anyway, the original trim around the doors and baseboards is pine I suspect though might be fir(I suspect pine).  The finish is very orange and not very shiney.  I'm looking for suggestions to try to match it in color and texture.  I know using the White oak it will not look the same, but I would like help with what the original finish could have been.  I'm doubting poly way back then.  I'm not all that experienced with finishes yet.  Varnish? Shellac?  Stain or no?  Below are some pics of original trim on an interior door.  Doors are original too with same finish. Thanks in advance, Brad

[LeeB]

Try rubbing an out of sight spot with denatured alcohol. If it gets soft then you have shellac.

[Brad_bb]

I guess I'm going to learn how to use shellac.  I used some rubbing alcohol that I had close by on a cottom ball and it made the finish tacky very quickly and a little rubbed off on the cotton ball.  Rockler has a little kit to mix flackes and alcohol.  It's close by.

[LeeB]

You can buy premixed by Zinnzer in amber and clear at the box stores. Red oak in amber would be real close to what you have now. I haven't done any white oak so I don't know how it looks.

[logwalker]

I am guessing Orange Shellac. But it could be amber. Joe

[LeeB]

Actually I thought maybe garnet.

[Brad_bb]

The kit they have at Rockler has 3 bags in a jar of Iamber, orange, and garnet flakes and you mix them with alchohol.  Not sure how much it makes though.  So I can experiment on a scrap piece to see which is best or even if I should mix two of them.  Thanks for your replies.  Hopefully this will work.

[srt]

If you don't get the exact match you want from the shellacs you buy, you could always add a little Trans Tints dye to it.  They can be purchased from Homesteadfinishing.  Be careful though, they get addicting when you figure out you really can match finishes with their help!

[logwalker]

The trouble is that the wood and finish changes so much over time, Smoke in the house over time has an effect also. The wood darkens under the finish also. If you could "muddy" the shellac some way before you apply might help. You will have a tough time matching. Good luck. Joe