Jacobean vs Ebony
Jacobean is a very dark cool-neutral brown one shade lighter than black; Ebony is a true near-black with a faint warm cast rather than Jacobean's cool one.
Pick Jacobean for cabinets or floors that want to read as extremely dark wood, not black.
Pick Ebony for an "ebonized" furniture look, genuinely close to black but still recognizable as a stain rather than paint.
How close are they?
Delta-E (perceptual color distance) between Jacobean and Ebony is 6.2 (a visible but subtle difference, more apparent side by side than on separate pieces).
Side by side
| Jacobean | Ebony | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand and line | Minwax Wood Finish | Minwax Wood Finish |
| Color code | 2750 | 2718 |
| Stain type | oil | oil |
| Hex (approx.) | #2E241D | #211C1A |
| Lightness (L*) | 15 | 11 |
| Undertone | very dark cool-neutral brown, nearly black | near-black, faint warm cast |
Jacobean is the lighter of the two by about 4 points of lightness on a 0 to 100 scale, so Ebony 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
Jacobean: Pine's grain runs soft and uneven in density, so Jacobean (a thin, deep-penetrating oil stain) is prone to blotching here unless the wood gets a pre-stain conditioner first.
Ebony: Pine's grain runs soft and uneven in density, so Ebony (a thin, deep-penetrating oil stain) is prone to blotching here unless the wood gets a pre-stain conditioner first.
Oak
Jacobean: Oak's large, open pores soak up an oil stain like Jacobean unevenly in a good way: it settles into the grain and makes the natural texture pop rather than looking flat.
Ebony: Oak's large, open pores soak up an oil stain like Ebony unevenly in a good way: it settles into the grain and makes the natural texture pop rather than looking flat.
Maple
Jacobean: Maple is dense and tight-grained with almost no texture to hide unevenness, so Jacobean blotches badly here without a conditioner or a test board first. This is the wood oil stains struggle with most.
Ebony: Maple is dense and tight-grained with almost no texture to hide unevenness, so Ebony blotches badly here without a conditioner or a test board first. This is the wood oil stains struggle with most.
Cabinets
Jacobean: On cabinet doors, an oil stain like Jacobean 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.
Ebony: On cabinet doors, an oil stain like Ebony 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.