Finish for Walnut & Curly Maple

[Todd Franks]

I need some advice on how to finish a calendar frame I'm building. The frame is made from walnut. There will be an elliptical inlay in the arched top made from a piece of maple scrap that has some curly figure. According to Flexner's book his favorite finish for walnut is orange shellac. I'm thinking this would not be a good choice on the maple inlay. My finishing experience is limited to various versions of wipe on poly. I don't have spray equipment so I'm limited to finishes that can be brushed, wiped on, or padded. This would probably be a good project for me to experiment with new types of finishes.

I may have some walnut sapwood to deal with also. I've rough milled the walnut and managed to lay it out so no sapwood ended up on the faces, but I may have some sapwood showing on the upper edge of the arched top. I searched the pile at the lumber mill and this was the best board for sapwood. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to blend the sapwood or should I not even try being such a small area?

-Todd

[Steve Schoene]

Shellac comes in a wide variety of colors--you can use a super blonde that is very light, though I think curly maple needs a bit of color to pop the grain. One very light coat of BLO before using shellac would be good. I sometimes start with a dark shellac, and then switch to the super blonde when I reach the shading that I want.

[Dennis Peacock]

Blending sapwood in walnut is tricky but can be done. Use some alcohol or waterbased dye (Dark Walnut) and apply just to the sapwood and not any on the already dark walnut. Remember that when working with dye, you won't see the exact color until you topcoat it with your finish. Practice it on some scrap pieces first until you get the desired "hidden" look over the sapwood.

There was an article in FWW or Wood this year that covers this exact topic. I'm not at home right now, so I can't look it up for ya.