Finishing Maple

[Luke Dupont]

Hi guys.

I've got a couple of projects that I've made out of Maple now which need to be finished. All of them have a lot of curves and shaping; I made a wooden spokeshave, a bow saw, and a wooden sword for Filipino Martial Arts practice. I used some of Watco's Danish Oil finish on my Spokeshave as a test run, and I got... extreme splotchy-ness. The places where the grain is flat to the surface are very light, whereas even the slightest bit of exposed straws (such as on the curves of the piece) become very dark indeed, and it looks pretty bad.

I haven't worked much with finishes yet. The only other finishes I currently have are Formby's Tung Oil Finish, which I think is Polyurethane based? - but I'm thinking might work as it's very light, and some spray on Shellac. I guess the Shellac would work, but I've never worked with it and I don't believe it is very durable, is it?

What sort of finishes should I be looking at for maple? Especially the sword, as that will see some abuse, so I'd rather not have any kind of finish that will damage easily, or show a lot of contrast if chips exposing bare wood occur.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I use Goldspar with great results and it is very durable. You need to thin your first coat per the directions, and I thin each coat a little less. The color of Goldspar has a warm golden hue, as the name might suggest. Epifanes makes a very good clear varnish. Their semigloss finish has a very smooth luster to it. Again, thin the first coat a lot and then back off the thinner for each successive coat.

For your sword, I would use Minwax floor varnish. It stands up to my 3 year old and the many things she bangs, scrapes, and rolls across the floor.

[Robert Hazelwood]

Did the Danish Oil you used have a stain in it? They make it in clear and in various stains if I recall correctly. Maple is a tough wood to stain. But even with a clear finish, end grain will absorb much more finish and appear darker. The typical way to diminish this effect is to sand the end grain areas (and only those areas) with a fine grit sandpaper, 400 or 600 grit. The rest of the piece can be left at 220 (assuming you are finish sanding and not finish planing). Then apply the finish, and the finer grit areas will absorb a bit less oil than they would otherwise.

Another way is to put on a spit coat of thin shellac (your spray can would probably work), let it dry, then sand it back lightly. The shellac will help plug the pores, so that when you go back and put on the oil or varnish, the different areas will absorb more evenly. You can buy sanding sealers or stain pre-conditioners at the store, but shellac will do the same thing. This can be combined with the previous method.

[Chris Hachet]

Thin coat of shellac is almost a must, and maple is almost impossible to stain properly. If you must stain, I find birch to work much better...alder will also work if you want a darker more cherry-ish color.

[David Eisenhauer]

Probably the finishing forum will be a better source of info than this one, but I have worked several large projects with maple and offer the following: 1) It will splotch, so some type of pre-coloring sealer is highly recommended to prevent/lessen splotching and I find that spraying on a thin coat ("wash coat) of dewaxed shellac before anything else works best for me. Also, some of the finish manufacturers offer a product designed to prevent splotching that is complimentary to the rest of their product line 2) I use dyes to color the wood instead of a pigmented stain (Transtint is my preferred dye, but others are probably just as good/better) and dye spraying leads to less splotching than the traditional wiping for application. Spraying dye for an even application does take a practice run or two to get familiar with the best technique for laying on a thin, non-running layer of dye that soaks in evenly. I suggest you check Jeff Jewitt's website for better finishing advice on this well-know issue with maple finishing.

[John Crawford]

You might also put Pratt & Lambert 38 on your list; this is more on the "clear" side, and I think looks nice on maple.

[Tom McMahon]

Any film finish you put on the practice sword will get bashed up, chipped and scratched. I would just put a clear oil finish on it.

[Chris Hachet]

Any film finish you put on the practice sword will get bashed up, chipped and scratched. I would just put a clear oil finish on it.

A very thin coat of shellac followed by a very thin coat of oil, and then wax would work superbly IMHO.

[Pat Barry]

A very thin coat of shellac followed by a very thin coat of oil, and then wax would work superbly IMHO.
I thought oil, then possibly shellac, then wax if you like it. Sounds weird to do oil over shellac. Seems like the shellac would seal the wood and the oil would just sit there to no advantage

[Stewie Simpson]

The thin coat of shellac will act as a sealer coat, preventing the oil from absorbing through it.

Oil 1st; followed up by a light sanding to knock back the raised grain; then shellac.