Staining Maple? Help!

[t1callahan]

I've read all kinds of threads on this site as well as many other sources, and have tried many of them, but I cannot seem to get my maple to take much color. I seems most prefer the natural look, but the boss (my wife), thinks the cabinet I'm building needs some color as natural maple is pretty colorless. On mosts tests, I have been using a shellac cut to 1lb or sometimes .5 lb., then sand, then try different things. I've tried staining with some oil based minwax, and their glaze stain as well. I also tried a water based stain, (even though most don't reccomend it). But none of them really soak in all that well, especially with the shellac sand and seal. It does soak in a bit better without sealing, but its a little blotchy, so its not an option. I tried amber Shellac as well, but Its really yellow. and Im looking for more of the color of the menu on this website above (some sort of pecan shade) I've Also tried BLO, but in a test, I put the BLO on half a piece, and the other I left off, then rubbed on a few coats of Poly, and I dont see a difference, so maybe its not soaking in, or maybe its only for Highly Figured wood. I've also tried the Rude a crude method, that was mentioned here on the site, wich mixes ploy with tung oil and BLO. But again, it wasnt much different than just rubbing Poly alone on. I am hesitant to order Die, as I've already spent a bit of money trying stuff out with nothing working. Will dies soak in better than the stuff I tried? Would I go with Water Based or Oil based? I definately want it to be rich, and not a light tinting that is barely noticable. My follow up question is, if I decide to just go natural, cause its too much trouble, would you just use a Rub on polyurathane, or would you still sand and seal it with shelack? or somethign different alltogether? BTW, at Lowes, I found a Zinsser Shellac SealCoat that is 100% dewaxed and Clear. It is a 2lb cut, but I've been cutting it to 1lb.
I think the more I read, the more I'm confused and the more I try discouraged i get.

Please help
Tom

[lrr]

This is not really too helpful, but I'd use maple "as-is" -- for its beauty in a light, natural color. Here are several pictures of a maple corner china cabinet I just made for my daughter. (The accent trim is purpleheart.)

We have alder 6 panel doors in our house, but the trim is pine. I've replaced the trim with alder in one room, and will evetually redo it all. The alder takes stain beautifully.

FYI -- I did a trial finish on the maple, and I liked plain shellac (blond). I also tried Watco Oil, but it was more yellow than I cared for.

Good luck! And if you really want to stain the maple, I'd recommend getting a book on finishes -- there are several good ones out there.

[drumpriest]

Maple doesn't take an oil stain well. Try a water based stain, or better yet, a dye. I almost always leave maple natural, but if you want to change the color without masking the outstanding figure, use a dye. Analine dyes (transtint) are available from Rockler and Woodcraft. Stain leaves pigment particles on the surface and in the grain to change the color, so you can cloud a tight grained figure with them.

Transtint goes for about 16$ for a concentrate that makes 2 quarts when mixed with either water or denatured alcohol. I'd try the water first on the maple.

[t1callahan]

Ok I think I've made up my mind

after another 3 hours of reading, I've decided that Ill leave it natural. I'm happy with the Wipe on poly, but will try the polycrilic tomorrow. I have a general question about these finishes. So after I apply a coat, I will sand with 320 or use steel wool 0000 grade. Now, On the Final Coat, Should i do anything? Do i sand with like 1200, or I've read here that there is even a 2400? Or do I just leave it alone? Or buff? I think Like to have a semigloss finish, but would like to try a high Gloss shine as well, just to see if its something I like. And, I've read that anywhere between 6 and 10 coats of Wipe on gives a deep shine, Is it the same with polycrylic? or Less?

Thanks again.

[drumpriest]

My personal favorite is Seal-A-Cell and Arm-R-Seal. The finish is up to what
you want. I find that it gets pretty nice after about 5 coats for a general
finish, and leave the last coat along.

Now, if you are going to touch it a lot, like my desktop, I do a rub out finish
on it. That involves MANY more coats of finish, about 10-12, and then it
has to cure for about a month. Afterwards you go through these steps....

wet sand at 400 to flatten, not too aggressive, just flattening.
wet sand at 600, continues to flatten, smooth
hand rub w/ steel wool, I use paraffin oil for this and the following steps.
hand rub w/soft cloth and pumice powder
hand rub w/soft cloth and rotten stone powder.

That's it, seems like a lot, but total my desktop took about 60-80 minutes.
The hard part was convincing LOML it's ok that the desktop was in the
so long before I did this step.

You can also acheive this with micromesh, but you need to use a rubbing
agent, such as the paraffin oil.

If you stop at steel wool, it'll be a satin-semigloss finish, as you go higher in
abrasives it's become smoother, thus incoming light rays will reflect at more
similar angles, thus becoming more and more mirror-like, ie glossy.

[jspelbring]

maple

Check out what TheWoodWhisperer says:
http://thewoodwhisperer.com/?p=150

[t1callahan]

Thanks So much

I appricate all the input. I'll let you know how it turns out.


Tom Callahan