Best finish for Tiger maple?

[demondeacon]

Was in GPS Hardwoods and picked up a pretty piece of Tiger Maple that I plan to use for a jewelry box for my granddaughter. Up to this point all of my furniture has been cherry or walnut, and I have used Waterlox with excellent results. For other projects with lighter woods I have used amber shellac as I like the look.

I would welcome any suggestions for finishes that make Tiger maple pop. This is my first project with tiger maple.. Note, I don't want too much color as I want the maple to stay generally blond in color since she is a blonde. Also want to be able to apply some wax at the end.

Thanks for any tips. Pics are welcome too!

 

[jlwest]

I use two coats of poly then 4 coats of wipe on poly.

 

[Ricksmi]

I have found Arm-R-Seal works great on Maple and does make the birds-eye and tiger pop. But with any finish always try a test piece first.

 

[ChemE75]

I use natural watco or a similar oil finish. I personally like only a bit hue enhancing color. Nearly every fancy maple piece of furniture I’ve ever made, an oil finish was the customer preference. Any tung or boiled linseed type will look great imho. The blends, and many mix up their own, use some solvents that help penetration and speed curing. Tru-oil gun/rifle stock oil, I found cures as fast I’m comfortable using, found it challenging to get even coating on a full size bed headboard, but some smaller items look great. I found builds and will offer a high gloss if desired. Watco I find builds less and leaves a more natural satin finish. I prefer watco for most projects, but I’m old and way back we had fewer brands with their myriad of blends. My initial rubbing is with 220-400, or similar micro mesh, depending on where I stopped sanding or finished with a scraping. For wet sanding, I get a good coating, evenly sanded that forms an ultra fine paste that can fill tiny pores or flaws especially on Birds Eye maple like in my profile pic. Anyway, lots of good options for a nice hand rubbed oil finish today. FWIW, I rarely bother waxing unless it’s a table top that might see moisture when the granddaughter visits.

 

[Tarhead]

Before adding a topcoat, dye the surface with a dark dye and sand it back to raw wood. The dye will stay in the curl. Experiment on a scrap. Also, consider multiple dye applications to color the non-curly parts. dyeing curly maple guitar tops - Google Search

 

[ChemE75]

Before adding a topcoat, dye the surface with a dark dye and sand it back to raw wood. The dye will stay in the curl. Experiment on a scrap. Also, consider multiple dye applications to color the non-curly parts. dyeing curly maple guitar tops - Google Search
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It does look good - seen a lot of variations on guitars and decorative items mostly. Depends on your personal preferences for tone/hue. (Btw, nice photo. I only have some snap shots, one of these days I’ll set it up for better pics.)

Before adding a topcoat, dye the surface with a dark dye and sand it back to raw wood. The dye will stay in the curl. Experiment on a scrap. Also, consider multiple dye applications to color the non-curly parts. dyeing curly maple guitar tops - Google Search
View attachment 231203

Nice finish. I was conflicted between my preference for the natural satin look or a more built up gloss. I think the gloss enhances the look. Got rushed to finish due to buying a house and just left it as is. One of these days I need to tweak the nut, neck and btidge, so when I unpack it to finish the setup, I may go for a bit more build up before restringing it. Past few yrs arthritis limits playing but my granddaughter may enjoy playing it in the future.

 

[jfynyson]

Was in GPS Hardwoods and picked up a pretty piece of Tiger Maple that I plan to use for a jewelry box for my granddaughter. Up to this point all of my furniture has been cherry or walnut, and I have used Waterlox with excellent results. For other projects with lighter woods I have used amber shellac as I like the look.

I would welcome any suggestions for finishes that make Tiger maple pop. This is my first project with tiger maple.. Note, I don't want too much color as I want the maple to stay generally blond in color since she is a blonde. Also want to be able to apply some wax at the end.

Thanks for any tips. Pics are welcome too!

I have some of that tiger maple from GSP as well that I’ll be building small drawer boxes for my walnut tea cabinet. I’ve also been pondering what finish to use as I do not want it to yellow as the urethanes or oil finishes will do over time. I cannot stand what those do to the natural look of lighter colored woods.

The only good options are lacquer or a good water based acrylic finish. I have used General Finishes High Performance water based finish and absolutely love the way it looks and has held up on ambrosia maple that had some curl in it but I've not yet tried it on the tiger maple. I’ve also not tried just wax, which is an option as well. Not sure you’d get as much yellowing with a good wax or not, just not as protective depending how you intend to handle the final piece.

The trade off is that you will not get the figure pop of the oils but you can mitigate the yellowing. The maple will naturally darken but not yellow like it will with an oil finish.

Let me know which route you go and send pics !

 

[ChemE75]

This is almost 40 yrs of natural Watco on birdseye maple and walnut. The top looks the same as drawer front. Not the greatest photo, but I don’t consider this offensively yellowed. It’s a fairly light application since these tables mostly just display mementos, small framed photos or a table lamp.

 

[Westpacx3]

This is almost 40 yrs of natural Watco on birdseye maple and walnut. The top looks the same as drawer front. Not the greatest photo, but I don’t consider this offensively yellowed. It’s a fairly light application since these tables mostly just display mementos, small framed photos or a table lamp.

Nice table. Any chance you can take a photo of the whole table and repost it.
I like the combinations you used I might add that to my photo gallery of ideas.

 

[ChemE75]

I probably got a full photo or I’ll take one to post. The table was designed by Thomas Moser in the 70s, I think. He wrote a book with measured drawings of Shaker furniture - it’s what got me started. I made the shaker jelly cupboard in cherry and been a big fan ever since. He made these side tables in cherry and started a biz with a showroom in Portland Maine. Last I noticed the biz was focused on more modern lines. Anyway I had a small shop in VT in the 80s and had quite a few orders for clones of his furniture. After making several in cherry or pine (with maple legs for durability), I made on in tiger maple that was nice for the top but legs are narrow so didn’t show off the maple as much as I had hoped. But then I got inspired by Ben and Jerry’s who had their factory not far, maple walnut, a favorite of mine, struck me as potentially attractive wood combo. I used birdseye for top and drawer front and walnut for the rest. It became a popular choice. I made a matching coffee table as a gift for my assistant’s wedding gift and that was a hit too. Anyway, if you can find the book, you’ll find the construction details, although fairly simple and highly customizable. One thing to retain, the long narrow leg taper definitely makes it look a bit more refined and less clunky.

 

[chris_goris]

Figured maple is my favorite wood. Oils, shellac and dyes are your friend here. You can really enhance the grain with dyes as mentioned previously by layering shellac and dyes. Or, oil based finishes like Arm R Seal and dyes. The oil and shellac make the grain pop, but the dyes can deepen the contrasting grain patterns. Best to test it all first. to determine your best path depending on the sample you have.

 

[ChemE75]

Figured maple is my favorite wood. Oils, shellac and dyes are your friend here. You can really enhance the grain with dyes as mentioned previously by layering shellac and dyes. Or, oil based finishes like Arm R Seal and dyes. The oil and shellac make the grain pop, but the dyes can deepen the contrasting grain patterns. Best to test it all first. to determine your best path depending on the sample you have.

Yup, seen some dye enhancements that look amazing. Mostly on custom guitars and mostly built up hi gloss finishes. Usually tiger maple tops. My preference is still the more natural look with the bit of amber from the oil, I find it fits best with my traditional furniture that’s still mostly shaker inspired.

 

[chris_goris]

Something like this? I did this years ago, only amber shellac on this.

 

[ChemE75]

Something like this? I did this years ago, only amber shellac on this.

Ya, fairly traditional, most of their furniture was either an oil, shellac or maybe varnish. My ex has an old rope bed that is tiger maple with birdseye panels in the head and foot boards. There’s no glue anywhere, gotta be really careful taking it down for moving. Luckily someone in more modern history marked the joints with a sharpie to make reassembly less of a hassle. Anyway, pretty much same shellac finish and it’s held up through a lot of moving and well over 100 yrs of life.

 

[Rwe2156]

Look for Charles Neil video. He used an orange dye stain and it looks absolutely amazing.

Also, Glen Huey does a lot of work with tiger maple. He had a video once called "Finishes that Pop". Maybe Ebay?

 

[demondeacon]

Thanks for all the ideas. I dont want to mess with dyes and stains. I like the amber shellac idea a lot. DO you think a sanding sealer first, will help pop the grain?

 

[Tarhead]

Thanks for all the ideas. I dont want to mess with dyes and stains. I like the amber shellac idea a lot. DO you think a sanding sealer first, will help pop the grain?

You want color to go into the grain so it won't.

 

[ChemE75]

Look for Charles Neil video. He used an orange dye stain and it looks absolutely amazing.

Also, Glen Huey does a lot of work with tiger maple. He had a video once called "Finishes that Pop". Maybe Ebay?

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Very nice!