Minwax Vintage Blue vs Varathane Vintage Denim
Minwax Vintage Blue is a muted slate blue-gray; Varathane Vintage Denim is a muted denim blue, a touch more blue and less gray.
Pick Vintage Blue for a quiet, grayed accent finish where the grain still shows.
Pick Vintage Denim when you want the blue to read a little more clearly.
How close are they?
Delta-E (perceptual color distance) between Vintage Blue and Vintage Denim is 9.7 (a clearly distinguishable difference once you see them next to each other).
Side by side
| Vintage Blue | Vintage Denim | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand and line | Minwax Wood Finish | Varathane Premium Fast Dry |
| Color code | 288 | |
| Stain type | oil | oil |
| Hex (approx.) | #5C7480 | #495C6B |
| Lightness (L*) | 47 | 38 |
| Undertone | muted slate blue-gray | muted denim-blue |
Vintage Blue is the lighter of the two by about 9 points of lightness on a 0 to 100 scale, so Vintage Denim 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
Vintage Blue: Pine's grain runs soft and uneven in density, so Vintage Blue (a thin, deep-penetrating oil stain) is prone to blotching here unless the wood gets a pre-stain conditioner first.
Vintage Denim: Pine's grain runs soft and uneven in density, so Vintage Denim (a thin, deep-penetrating oil stain) is prone to blotching here unless the wood gets a pre-stain conditioner first.
Oak
Vintage Blue: Oak's large, open pores soak up an oil stain like Vintage Blue unevenly in a good way: it settles into the grain and makes the natural texture pop rather than looking flat.
Vintage Denim: Oak's large, open pores soak up an oil stain like Vintage Denim unevenly in a good way: it settles into the grain and makes the natural texture pop rather than looking flat.
Maple
Vintage Blue: Maple is dense and tight-grained with almost no texture to hide unevenness, so Vintage Blue blotches badly here without a conditioner or a test board first. This is the wood oil stains struggle with most.
Vintage Denim: Maple is dense and tight-grained with almost no texture to hide unevenness, so Vintage Denim blotches badly here without a conditioner or a test board first. This is the wood oil stains struggle with most.
Cabinets
Vintage Blue: On cabinet doors, an oil stain like Vintage Blue 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.
Vintage Denim: On cabinet doors, an oil stain like Vintage Denim 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.