Patent ID: 7953274

Claim:
A method, comprising the steps of: A) providing a computer system that includes or is connected to a database of stain information, wherein the database contains a plurality of records associated with a plurality of colored stains, each record including: (i) data representing a transparent or semitransparent wood stain, and (ii) at least one of: (a) a first digital color image depicting the stain or (b) first spectral data for the stain as applied to an earlywood region of one or more substrates having or depicting earlywood and latewood regions; B) obtaining at least one of: (i) a second digital color image of or (ii) second spectral data for an earlywood region of a target object having or depicting earlywood and latewood regions; and C) selecting a desired stain for a substrate to be stained by comparing an earlywood portion of at least one of the second digital color image or second spectral data to a first digital color image or first spectral data from one or more of the database records.