Innovative Products: PPG Timeless Stain

The challenge faced by modern wood stains is to reconcile aesthetics and durability. What makes a stain durable doesn’t make its color rich and vibrant, and vice versa. PPG’s newly launched Timeless stain aims to solve that dilemma. 

Part of the solution PPG found involves blending two different but complementary resin systems that simultaneously protect the wood and enrich its color. 

“In this particular stain, we used a mixture of alkyd and acrylic oil resins,” says Abhinav Bhandari, wood-care product manager for PPG. “They give us the best of both worlds. Alkyd is known for its richness. But acrylic is a film-forming product. That means it’s not as rich as alkyd, but it’s more durable.” The resin mixture is also fortified with a special urethane that improves flexibility while maintaining strength. That’s one part of the solution; the other part is in the pigments. 

According to Bhandari, PPG was particularly selective for its Timeless stain, using only iron oxide pigments—which, as he points out, “are very different from the pigments that get added to stains in stores.” Two things set iron oxide pigments apart: They’re richer in color and they provide additional UV protection. 

Combined, the resin blend and careful pigment selection make Timeless one of the most effective stains currently on the market, according to PPG.