Maple Finishing

**Michael** · 10-21-2000, 02:23 PM

I have seen beutifull finishes on maple. I have tried everything and can't get it to come out right. What should I use for a stain and what should I use for gloss.

**Dave in Cairns** · 10-21-2000, 07:15 PM

It is not essential to stain timber prior to finishing. Often stains are used to disguise the fact that low quality timber is used. I prefer to show off the natural beauty of the timber without any staining and generally use a polyurethane satin finish after applying a sanding sealer to fill grain. Below is a maple desk finished this way.

{link:www.australianwoodart.com|http://www.australianwoodart.com/gal...g03/desk2.jpg]

**Ron** · 10-23-2000, 12:33 AM

Daves right, the natural look is great. I also use polyurethane
to get a beautiful finish. One thing to add is that if you would like to enhance the grain try staining with a water based black aniline dye. Once stained resand the surface until just a faint amount of the stain remains. You will be amazed how the figure pops out once you put on the polyurethane.

**Larry** · 10-23-2000, 12:32 PM

I make quite a few things out of both hard and soft maple, and have always used Natural color Watco Danish Oil. There's really no need for a hard poly finish on hard maple in my opinion. Before applying the finish I buff the wood with a fine foam sanding block, like the ones made by 3-M. This creates a slight gloss and seems to bring out any three dimensional grain effects too.