Unfinished Maple - Need Advice

[Steven G Williams]

My wife and I just purchased a unfinished Hardwood Maple bed from a local fella that creates only craftsman style furniture. This bed is for our grand daughter who stays with us a few days a week. We now need to put a finish on it and I'm not sure which way I should go. I'm a Design Engineer by trade and do not have a ton of time to work on this. My specialty is custom cam follower bearings which has nothing to do with wood so I'm new to this. What I would like to know is what can I use to seal this and maintain the natural wood finish without having to spend weeks on it. I love the look of tung oil rubbed wood but I know it takes alot of time and patients to get it right. My wife wanted to whitewash the bed but I talked her out of it. I guess if the natural look doesn't make her happy then I can always paint it which would break my heart.

The furniture was crafted in Grand Rapids Michigan by a company called Custom Cottage the web site is a .org site if you want to see the work they do. It may give you more insight on the type of maple this bed is. I do know the wood is grown, cut and kiln in Michigan.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Here are some photo's of the unfinished bed, don't mind the mess my wife has the room in shambles reorganizing and redecorating.

Here is a link to some photo's of the bed.
Click Here!

[Kent A Bathurst]

As a new guy at this stuff, if you want quick,simple, inexpensive, and basically foolproof, here is an option I would be comfortable doing for my own piece:

Seal it with a couple light coats of Zinsser aerosol spray shellac, then finish it with 3 - 4 coats of Minwax wipe-on poly. You'll preserve the look of the wood, but will add an amber tone via the poly.

[Mark Kornell]

Steven,

If you like the hand-rubbed tung oil look, Kent just about has it right. Mixwax wipe-on polyurethane - you'd probably want the satin sheen - is easy to find and easy to apply. And almost foolproof. If you run into problem areas, take a fine grit of sandpaper (300-400) and lightly sand out the roughness before applying another coat.

On unfinished wood, there is no need for a shellac seal coat, so you can omit that step.

[Andrew Hughes]

Can you get spray laquers ,Two or three cans of deft spray laquer.Not the water borne stuff.Hate that stuff.!Any oil finish will turn the maple yellow if you want to keep it white, then laquer.THIN coats three will do.
shellac is a good choice just harder to do.Its hard to give finishing advice lots of things could affect a good finish. Sometimes I spend Almost as much time on my finish as building.Good luck its is a nice looking bed.

[Kent A Bathurst]

On unfinished wood, there is no need for a shellac seal coat, so you can omit that step.

blotch prevention; dunno the details of the wood - a simple precautionary step. i have used shellac seal coat on virtually everything for years; simply 2d nature for me [i use dewaxed flakes, tho]

since that zinsser product is also dewaxed, it can never hurt to use it, afaik

[Mike Monroe]

A second on the Deft rattle can "wood finish" lacquer approach, I'd go with the Satin sheen. Set up outside on the right day weather wise and you could be done in half a day - most that time will be waiting for the lacquer to set, so you could do other stuff while you wait. Get a piece of scrap maple to test on, see if the Deft gives you the look you want.

[Bill White]

I'm with Kent on the Seal Coat. Use it a bunch.
I'll also wipe down the object(s) with a damp rag to raise the grain a bit, sand off the nibs with 220, seal, finish of choice.
Might wanna consider a wipe on gel poly. Reduces the chance of runs, but takes several coats. Quick and easy.
Bill

[Scott Hearn]

Watco Danish Oil!