Light, Dark,or no stain. Waht do you think?

Matt Shade

Matt Shade

Joined
Nov 24, 1999
Messages
4,981
Hey Guys
Spring break is coming up so I'll have some time to do some more work I hope. I'm planning on making some handle scales for a folder out of maple. There's a woodcraft in town near me and their catalog says they have maple thats been selected for its grain. I'm thinking either birds eye maple, or figured maple(catch all for burls with wild grain) Anyhow, I figure I'll seal it with epoxy, but I was wondering if I should stain it, leave it plain or what. I've never used epoxy for a finish before, does clear epoxy make a clear finish? Has anyone used birds eye maple? Will the dots show up better or worse with a dark stain/ light stain? Any info is appreciated. What do you think would look best? Thanks.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
Hey Matt:

Check with Jake Evans.. He has a great formula for staining Maple and he really seems to know his woods.

Marcel

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I have used maple burl before, from Woodcraft actually, and it was well figured but quite porous. I did not stain it but Barry Jones posted a picture a month or so ago of a knife with stained maple burl that looked pretty good. Staining is a personal preference. As far myself, I like the more natural look for the burls. If it were curly or fiddle back, then by all means I would stain it. For a knife handle, if you are putting on birdseye maple look for fairly close eyes in the grain of the wood. This is hard to come by and that is why you mainly see maple burl or curly maple on knives. The nice thing about maple is that you get some very decent looking wood at a very good price.

C Wilkins
 
I bought a block of burl maple and cut it up into scales and blocks for handles. Put the scales on two blades, and took it back off. It was way too soft for my liking. Would it be feesible to stain it and soak it in super glue or some sort of resin before attaching it to harden it up some??

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Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!
 
L6, there's always stabilized wood, too. I have a couple pieces of stabilized birdseye that looks to be pretty hard. Also, there is a stuff for woods that hardens the surface. I don't know how well it works, but you may want to look into it. Anyplace with a wood finishing section should have it.

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I've used maple burl on a number of knives. Some were left natural and some were stained. Both look good. It's a matter of preference.

I use penetrating epoxy as a sealer on maple. It's the stuff used to strengthen rotten wood, and works fine as a general purpose sealer. I put on several light coats, sanding lightly between coats. The final coat is very lightly brushed on with a small scrap of cloth as a brush. It leaves a smooth shiny coat, much like varnish would. It seems to be pretty tough. Be sure to let it dry overnight between coats.

Carl
 
I made a small hunter with a beadblasted blade and a birdseye maple handle recently. I chose to stain it brown, and I'm glad I did - it looks great.
 
It surely does make a beautiful handle!! I was just curious about making it tougher. Thanks for the tips!! Michael

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Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!
 
All figured maple is not the same species of wood! Some is "sugar maple" or "rock maple" and is very hard and dense and very difficult to stain with conventional wood stains. Other figured maple may be softer species that take stain very well. The hard stuff is very good for a knife handle and REQUIRES a stain to bring out the figure. I believe that the usual approach is the extremely concentrated alcohol based stains used by professional woodworkers or the Chromic acid stain, which works beautifully on maple.
 
FoxCreek made a very good point about different kinds of maple. Some of the figured maples come from soft maples or sugar maples usually grown a bit far south for good hard grain. The northern species are tighter grained and usually harder and more durable. I use alot of birdseye maple and it is very durable and tight grained. I just used about 800 board ft. of birdseye for a job and it about made me sick to cut it all up in little pieces. I was able to save some of the cluster areas for future knife handles. Its beautifull stuff.
As far as finishing, I like to just use a natural oil finish. Many many coats untill it can soak up no more oil. Then I let it dry for several days. Then I put one more coat on, after 4 or 5 hours I wipe off the excess oil. I let it dry for 2 more days or untill the top coat is dry. Then I lightly sand with scotchbrite and dry buff it. Its a very good finish, easy to fix and refinish after several years of hard use. The firsts few coats Of oil are heated, this helps penatration. This oil finish also lets the wood age naturally to a fantastic gold color. Sorry for the ramble but I love working with wood. I think God did a good job with the natural colors of wood so I rarely use stain.

John


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