Gunstock vs Golden Oak
Gunstock is a warm medium brown a shade darker and less yellow than Golden Oak, which leans more gold.
Pick Gunstock for a furniture-brown look that reads less like a 1990s oak kitchen.
Pick Golden Oak specifically to match or restore existing oak cabinetry from that era.
How close are they?
Delta-E (perceptual color distance) between Gunstock and Golden Oak is 13.1 (a clearly distinguishable difference once you see them next to each other).
Side by side
| Gunstock | Golden Oak | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand and line | Minwax Wood Finish | Minwax Wood Finish |
| Color code | 231 | 210B |
| Stain type | oil | oil |
| Hex (approx.) | #A06A3A | #C08A4E |
| Lightness (L*) | 50 | 62 |
| Undertone | warm medium brown, a step darker than Golden Oak | warm honey-gold, classic oak-cabinet tone |
Golden Oak is the lighter of the two by about 12 points of lightness on a 0 to 100 scale, so Gunstock will hide more of the wood's own grain and color on the same board. Hex values are on-screen approximations of each published swatch; confirm on a test board of your own wood before committing.
How each behaves on pine, oak, maple and cabinets
Pine
Gunstock: Pine's grain runs soft and uneven in density, so Gunstock (a thin, deep-penetrating oil stain) is prone to blotching here unless the wood gets a pre-stain conditioner first.
Golden Oak: Pine's grain runs soft and uneven in density, so Golden Oak (a thin, deep-penetrating oil stain) is prone to blotching here unless the wood gets a pre-stain conditioner first.
Oak
Gunstock: Oak's large, open pores soak up an oil stain like Gunstock unevenly in a good way: it settles into the grain and makes the natural texture pop rather than looking flat.
Golden Oak: Oak's large, open pores soak up an oil stain like Golden Oak unevenly in a good way: it settles into the grain and makes the natural texture pop rather than looking flat.
Maple
Gunstock: Maple is dense and tight-grained with almost no texture to hide unevenness, so Gunstock blotches badly here without a conditioner or a test board first. This is the wood oil stains struggle with most.
Golden Oak: Maple is dense and tight-grained with almost no texture to hide unevenness, so Golden Oak blotches badly here without a conditioner or a test board first. This is the wood oil stains struggle with most.
Cabinets
Gunstock: On cabinet doors, an oil stain like Gunstock can lap-mark where one panel overlaps the next during application; wipe fast and work one door at a time to keep the color even.
Golden Oak: On cabinet doors, an oil stain like Golden Oak can lap-mark where one panel overlaps the next during application; wipe fast and work one door at a time to keep the color even.