Dye or stain for Maple

[ebanks]

I am working on a Hard Maple dining table and am looking for suggestions on finishing. I know that many people have lots of problems with maple being blotchy if trying to stain. What is the best method or procedure for staining maple to an almost cherry color?

Dye, stain, gel stain ?

[plarval]

I used an aniline dye when I made my sofa table (also hard maple). Chose a very cherry color and it turned out great. No splotchiness to speak of. Used some boiled linseed oil and then followed it up with a brownish glaze and it turned out really nice. I would recommend dyes without hesitation.

If you wanted to stick with stain, I would try a test piece. Start with an oil based stain, and then use a gel stain to kind of even things out. That seems to be the preferred method of Norm.

[ebanks]

Dye or stain for maple

Would I need to use some sort of conditioner on the wood prior to the dye?

[plarval]

I didn't use anything special. I wetted down the top to get the grain to raise a bit and then gave it a good fine grit sanding. I've heard good things about the conditioners before stain, but not sure about dye. The dye gets into the wood, rather than just a topcoat, so I'm not sure it would have much of an effect.

[kano32]

I have had blotching before. Use a wood conditioner and then use a gel stain. Even then you can get blotching. Check out the forums at www.woodweb.com There were tons of woodworkers that gave me more advice than I could absorb. Lots of great finishing info.