I made a baby highchair out of white oak and used maple miller plugs to give it some character. When I cut the plugs off and sanded them they are more white than dark. You can wipe them with water or paint thinner and they turn back dark color but when dried they turn back white color. What can I do to keep them dark until I put a coat of polyurethane on them. Thanks
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Just me... Why hide a nice joint? If it looks good.. Flaunt it!
Why did you use maple? It's naturally a white wood? If you wanted dark you should have used walnut.
The "dark" you see when wetting the wood is the tendency of the plug's end grain to absorb more moisture than the face grain. You may be able to keep the dark color by wiping on a diluted dye stain and then wiping immediately back off. It may discolor the oak, though; but it will definitely make the plugs darker.
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