I haved some curley maple and English Sycamore curley veneer. The sycamore sure looks like curley maple. I want to really POP the grain yet maintain light color and avoid any amber tint. I know that water based finishes are best to avoid amber BUT they don’t pop the grain.
What can I do to maintain orginal color and pop the grain? Thanks.
Replies
English sycamore is a kind of maple; it's unrelated to American sycamore. I think a very light coat of "super blonde" shellac is your best bet. Be aware that the maple is going to yellow all on its own upon exposure to light.
-Steve
O.K., I've been working on this very subject the last week.
If you want a nice, obvious, but understated display of figure, then....
Smooth plane it with a 62 degree blade (yields very nice clarity), or sand it to 220.
Then, what seems to work the best is to start the finishing process with a coat of 2# Zinzer Seal Coat, right out of the can, or slightly thinned with alcohol.
Brush fast and thin, let it dry for an hour, LIGHTLY sand with 220 and hit it again with a second coat of shellac. Let dry overnight.
Sand again with 220 (lightly if you are going to continue with shellac, or until all the shiny spots are gone if you plan to top coat with anything else) and THEN put whatever clear coat you want over it - 3 more coats of shellac (very nice), or 2 coats of #38 varnish (superb!) or poly.
While not recommended, I've found that a foam brush works very well with all three, if you will just throw it away at the end of each day's session. BUT, if you are using shellac and try to save the foam brush in a baggie for tomorrow, it sheds little foam bits the next day - dna evidently breaks down the foam in the course of an evening.
I've also given Waterlox's original seal and then glossy, but I don't like the way it makes the curly maple that I've got look like it was dipped in motor oil.
You should get a lot of responses to this one - there's lots of ways to do this - some of them involve stains and lots of follow-up sanding for a really dramatic pop.
Good luck!!!
Mike D
You can't really have it both ways, since it is the ambering that pops the grain, there is a trade off. I think Steve Shafer has hit a good compromise with shellac. And he is also right on when he warns that it will yellow over time no matter what you do.
There is another approach to consider and that is to use a very dilute waterbased aniline dye on the maple. Then when the dye has dried, sand the surface with 220 or finer sandpaper. The sanding will restore the light color to the "surface" and leave a little of the dye in the figure only, enhancing the contrast. Then you can top coat with the very lightest shellac, or after one coat of shellac with a waterborne acyrlic top coat.
I use ES a lot and find that a good blond shellac with a wax buffing will give you nice figure. But if you want to really pop the figure, you've got to get some color into the softer part of the grain. You'll need to use either an aniline dye, or a couple quick wash coats of amber or garnet shellac. Sand after the color application to leave the color in the softer (more porous) parts, then apply your topcoat.
Looking at a bookcase in the room I am currently sitting in, I see that the O/V + shellac finish I applied to the ES doors gives plenty of figure pop without being overly dramatic in appearance. So maybe try a coat of thinned varnish before shellac.
Attached is a quick pic of the doors. It's also a good example of how different lots of cherry darken at different rates: the door frames and the case were both the same unfinished cherry color a few years ago. The frames are now deep dark red.
Hi Don,
Attached is a photo of a box I made with curly maple.
I applied a sealer first. Then three coats of varnish.
Rubbed out with pumice & rottentone with oil.
The photo doesn't really do the finish justice...
But the grain is dramatic and there is tremendous depth.
Bill-
Drop dead beautiful Bill. My wife insists no amber color however. I personally figure that why worry, the wood will change that color all by itself from exposure to light anyway.
DonC
go over to the left of the list of subjects and click on advanced search.. then scroll down to the bottom and enter the number 34543.8 you'll see some of my pictures of curly maple done exactly as was mentioned here..
Minimal yellowing as you can see and it clearly makes the grain pop
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled