I have made mock-up panel doors from maple rails and stiles. Used 2 lb blonde shellac with several waterbased finishes. When the light strikes the rails and stiles (being at 90 degrees to eachother) the color is quite different (even though from the same piece of wood). When rotated 90 degrees, the light colored piece switched to darker and visa versa. Although the lumber I am using is plain figured, I think this phenominon is called Chatoyancy. Is there any way to tone down this effect without darkening the wood?
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Replies
No
You are right; that's what it is called. Learn to use it for special effects or enjoy it but I don't think you can fight it. Unless you just dye or paint the piece of furniture.
chatoyance
Many of us here pray to find that feature in lumber, consider yoursely lucky because you have something special. Plain old lumber is boring. When I go to my lumber yard I spend hours hand sorting for those types of boards.
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