Much is made of using boiled linseed oil on Maple. In an earlier thread, someone asked if tung oil would work as well, but I don’t think anyone answered. I’m about to finish a maple piece. So, any opinions on BLO vs. tung oil??
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
Do unto others as you tell them they should do unto you….
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I've used both. BLO seemed to POP the grain better than tung. Both turned the wood amber. I have grown to dislike amber color. I now do maple with water dye to pop and water white lacquer for finish.
This maple is going to house a Seahawks jersey (blue and white with a tiny bit of green). They guy wants a light-colored wood. I wonder if I should just finish it as natural as possible -- seems like any ambering might not go well with the jersey material.
Am thinking about doing the final sanding, and then letting it sit for about a week to get just a little darker before I put the finish on it.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) Do unto others as you tell them they should do unto you....
I suspect you already know that maple will yellow by itself over time. For a really white wood, you could go with holly (veneer); but maybe your client would like a dyed wood. Birdseye maple dyed a light blue could be quite a neat background to the Jersey. Maybe you might want to explore some color options with dyed veneers.
Go Hawks! (a fan from the Largent days, when he was "just" a wide receiver, and a friend had season tickets on the 40).Recommending the use of "Hide Signatures" option under "My Preferences" since 2005
He just wants a light, not white, wood. The case he saw in my store that caught his eye was a walnut finish (on alder), so he's not wanting anything dark. He doesn't seem to want to "explore options" -- just wants me to build the thing, with a "light finish." He's super-busy, an delegating totally it would seem.
It's amazing how much the maple will change in just a few days, if you look close enough.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) Do unto others as you tell them they should do unto you....
One note about cases for fabrics, Be sure to finish the inside of the case with shellac. Most woods have an acid content that can attack fabric over time. The shellac is far and away the best to seal the acid fumes, short of some specialized museum conservator's materials.
Thanks, Steve, yep need to be careful. Can't remember what I used on the two other cases I built. Might have been WB poly. Am learning that I must make notes, simply don't remember things the way I should!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) Do unto others as you tell them they should do unto you....
Forget it! Use black and gold (Steeler Colors!)* and settle for the best!
* Pirogis and Iron City Beer!
There are two differences when using tung oil. It yellows slightly less and it takes forever to dry. The ambering is only slightly less than BLO and both will "pop" the grain. It's the amber color that causes the grain to be highlighted.
As always, test it on some scrap to see how they look side by side.
In general I favor tung over BLO, especially on maple where BLO will darken the wood significantly. Be sure to use polymerized Tung, or add Japan driers to speed up the drying process.
Wiping on a varnish is another option for a clear finish and, of course, the varnish will offer more protection than just oil. Or, mix the varnish with the tung oil and MS to get more penetration to pop the figure more.
I finished some curly maple today using this route. The figure popped so much that it looks like one of those 3D holograms with a translucent figure about 1/4" deep. Funny thing is, it's 1/42" veneer....
Breaking news bulletin here. I have it on good authority (Jeff Jewitt and Michael Dresdner) that most Japan dryers do not work with tung oil. T.O. requires a cobalt dryer, and that's not (generally) one of the components of Japan dryer. The term Japan dryer is a catch-all, and evidently the forumulae vary.
Our local artist supply store carries a cobalt dryer.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I like to use tung oil on maple but I almost always use a coat or two of teak oil first. Amazon's Golden is my favorite but Watco works well. Both of these are thinner than the tung/varnish and get well into the grain to pop figure in my opinion. As Howard stated, test pieces first!! Just my two cents...Tim
BLO stinks and tung oil doesn't, which influences me to a degree. Dilute 50:50 with mineral spirits, and Japan drier is a must with either one. I can't tell any difference in how much either pops grain. I just recently read in FWW about using aniline dyes to "pop" grain, rather than just to impart color. I never appreciated that they would work that way but I'm going to try it.
If you wet sand with either of the oils, the slurry does make a great grain filler. Sometimes you have to let it dry for a few days and lightly repeat the wet sanding to complete the filling, if you intend to try for filled grain at all. Just thought I 'd mention it since I recently did this with pretty good results. Interestingly, after I applied shellac, I noticed that some pores weren't filled and I wet sanded with the tung oil over the shellac and let the shellac particle-oil mixture fill the rest. When the oil cured, it was a good result and I jsut re-coated with more shellac. The cured oil maintains the transparency of the particles.
Of course you didn't ask about filling, but I thought I'd share the experience.
Jay
I like to wet-sand the finish on red oak, usually with Watco, because it is such an open-grained wood. Maple doesn't seem the call out for wetsanding though. Do you think it's worth the extra work (however slight) with maple?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) Do unto others as you tell them they should do unto you....
Depends how much gloss you want and whether you consider the unfilled pores a distraction. If you want a satin or low gloss with maple it may not matter.
Jay
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