I am building an Eli Terry 1802 Grandfather clock so finishing is kind of a big deal. It is Ambrosia Maple which has long medium gray stains and typical light yellow of Maple sanded to 180. It is taking stain kind of blotchy like Birch so I am trying to condition or seal the wood with 50% Shellac and denatured alcohol. That worked well on Birch. Is there something better? The water based “conditioner” I read about had to dry 20 minutes and then be stained within just 10 more minutes. That would be tough to do this on a clock this size/complexity. I have water based dye, several water based stains, Mohawk water based finish and am trying combinations of these colors on a Maple board divided in 10 sections for blend. Any tips? Thanks.
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Replies
What color are you trying to achieve? Why use stain at all? For me at least, the allure of ambrosia maple is the contrast between the eggshell sapwood and the blue/gray beetle trails. If you must alter the color of the maple you could always use the hardwax oil of your choice (Odies, OSMO, Rubio, etc) in one of their many colors/shades that suits your project.
Maple is one of the woods that must be "conditioned" before staining. I work with maple a LOT and always sand to 220 before applying conditioner and stain. I understand your concern about the time schedule with the water based conditioner and the shellac/alcohol mix (dewaxed shellac!) is the answer to that. With that being said...now that the piece is already stained I'm sorry to say the only way to totally get rid of the blotchy is to strip and start over.
I'm happy to say I haven't stained the clock yet. I learned that lesson on a Birch clock several years ago, I had to build another it was so bad. I have a lot of tests and not real happy with any. I'll keep trying. Thanks.
Currently working on a ambrosia male table/ printer stand. It will get a clear urethane finish. If I ever get it done, I will post pictures.
I really like working with Ambrosia Maple and I keep the finishing simple. I hand plane the surface, apply several coats of Wipe on Poly, and then apply some wax with a fine abrasive pad to keep the look as natural as I can.
I was finally able to post the images of my finished project. Which is a 48" long run of wall mounted drawers with the drawer fronts from a continuous board. This particular board also has a very subtle curly character.
Agree except I will sand this one to 320. I used glossy clear poly on a previous top and it looked great in the shop until I took it outside and every brush stroke looked like giant swirls and swipes everywhere. Looked horrible so I took to fine sandpaper, took off the shine, looked GREAT, at least to me. Customer was happy, I was even happier. BTW, the stand I am working on just went through good dry fit this morning, moving along here.
Very nice!
I always use dye on maple.
I have been very successful in dyeing maple, to the point people have identified it as cherry. No blotching problems.
Transtint dyes, followed by lacquer; 1/2 semigloss, 1/2 satin.
Can I mix a water based dye/stain with a lacquer finish or is it water based finish over water based stains?
No. No water based materials are not compatible with lacquer.
If you want a finish that won't amber the maple and is super simple to use, I highly recommend Osmo neutral. I used it on end tables sanded to 320 and it turned out. You can see the end tables here: https://beasleysevindesigns.com/gallery/
Beautiful stuff, I will look into the finish, thanks!