curly maple

[Keith Willis]

A friend of mine gave me a piece of curly maple,it is very light color wood,which i have never had any dealings with.Could someone tell me what would be the best thing to finish it with?Thanks for any help.

 

[Whoever Wherever]

I use watco oil to finish my maple. I like the neutral or natural that doesn't have any dies and if I need I use a little leather dye. They make watck oil with built in dye/stain but I have never used it. I use maturitic acid to bring out the "curly". There was a recent thread about what people use for this. The answer ranged from a heat gun up to acid.

 

[J.S. Carter]

walnut hulls, (green) polk berries, (purple) tung oil, (brown and darker the more coats you add) shoe dye, wood stain, shoe polish, (oxblood would look stupendous) kool aid, kandy paint, pretty much, you can use anything the sky's the limit, Use your imagination.

 

[mete]

I dislike stains or dyes and prefer to leave maple as is with a clear finish. Though very pale initially it will soon get a nice golden honey color do to light.

 

[tito]

Rade Hawkins did sell a product to bring out the figure in curly maple, if you choose to finish it that way. It may be muriatic acid, as mentioned above, but I'm not positive. The picture below is from his site, although I didn't see the finish. You'll have to call him if you're interested.

 

[Keith Willis]

I,like Mete,like the natural color.Although i did not know the thing about "bringing out the curly",i would like to get it right.

 

[Whoever Wherever]

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=478617&page=6

2nd posts down details how I do it and who I originally got the method from. It works well whether or not you are using any dye.

 

[birdog4]

Chromic acid
available from RWWilson as Majestic Maple stain

 

[Keith Willis]

Thanks guys,for all the advice.Hey Dustin,im going to give it a try.It is going on my christmas exchange knife,so i hope it turns out as well as yours.

 

[mdoyle]

You are planning to send it out for stabilization first, right?
Matt Doyle

 

[jll346]

Majestic Maple. It is made by RW Wilson.

 

[PMLKnives]

try potasium permangmate, you can get it from your local sears near the water softeners. should be in a little white bottle with a blue label i think kenmore makes the stuff.

use a pinch of it in a few ounces of water.... then you can rub it into the maple. then in between coats sand lightly with 0000 steel wool.

it oxidizes and darken it up nice.

but the last few i've done i just used walnut stain from birchwood and casey's gun stock re finishing kit. then you can use their TRU OIL for an absolutely awesome finish

http://robertsoncustomcutlery.com/spanglerhunters.htm

that's how mike did this one

good luck!