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Thread: best finish for Curly or birdseye Maple ?

  1. #1

    best finish for Curly or birdseye Maple ?

    What would be the best finish to apply to Curly or Birdseye Maple to really make the figure of the wood pop out and shine ?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
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    9,648
    Wow, open question there, and you will get a lot of opinions/recommendations. Mine is it depends upon what look you are after and how much work you want to put into it. If you want to get great results with minimal effort, shellac, lacquer, or almost any clear topcoat will do a great job. I built a table with curly maple a few years ago as a present and finished it with blonde shellac. I saw it yesterday and couldn't get over how beautifully it has aged, with the figure more pronounced now that when it was new. Which leads to the second recommendation. Many folks like to dye curly and birdseye maple to highlight the figure, then topcoat with a clearcoat. There are several variations on this approach and it would be a good idea to read up further before trying that approach.

    John

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,694
    John is spot-on that there are so many ways to respond to this because there are an equal number of ways to enhance the figure. Personally, I would likely use the multi-step dye-sand-back-dye-sand-back technique to highlight the figure, then dye for desired color if wanted, then BLO, then de-waxed shellac to seal and then spray the water borne top-coat product I generally use for my projects. That's the technique I used for this candle stand, for example...three dye steps including the final for overall color...

    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #4
    There's not enough info to say what is the best finish for maple. What is the project? Is it exposed to a lot of sun or water? Is the project subject to a lot of abuse and wear? Generally with maple, finished natural or lightly stained you should look for a finish that is non-yellowing. A finish that might look very nice new can look very bad in a few years if the finish yellows. Depending on what the project is or how it is used there are a number of non-yellowing finishes. Different finishes are formulated for different uses and some that are made very hard and durible may not work in the sun or you might have to have deep pockets to use.

  5. #5
    If you have an online subscription to FWW, Google "Pop the Curl in Curly Maple". Jeff Jewitt wrote an article about this that has guided me well over the past couple years.

    The basic technique is: dye light brown, sand back, (dye final color - optional), oil, topcoat.

    Many people believe the key to popping grain is some magic property of oil. However, some believe the pop comes from the amber color of oil or dyes, or shellac that preferentially seeps into the curl.

  6. #6

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Phoenix AZ Area
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    2,505
    Like most topics, I have an opinion

    I find that using oil to "pop" the figure just highlights the grain direction making it contrastly light and dark. I much prefer a finish that displays "Chatoyance", the property in some figured woods that causes the grain to go from light to dark as you change the angle of the light hitting it. Tiger Eye stones have the same effect. As you walk past a piece finished to highlight cahtoyance the grain will change colors and as some say the grain will dance. I find BLO just muddies the figure. Do this test. Take a scrap and finish one half with BLO and whatever else and finish the other side with shellac.

    Here are some jewelry boxes I made a few years ago.

    http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...hlight=jewelry
    Last edited by Joe Jensen; 01-01-2013 at 11:03 AM.

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