# finish for curly maple



## spitfire (Dec 28, 2007)

I was curious what everybody uses for curly maple. Do you use water based dye or just keep it natural and go with a ca finish? Obviously, I want to make the curl pop as much as I can.
Thanks


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## mrcook4570 (Dec 28, 2007)

Usually CA, but occasionally aniline dye followed by CA if the customer requests a specific color.


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## SuperDave (Dec 28, 2007)

A couple coats of Danish Oil Natural, let dry, then finish with CA or Hut Crystal Coat.


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## gmcnut (Dec 29, 2007)

Jason,

My sixteen year old son turned a curly maple slimline pen as a Christmas gift for his mom and at the recomendation of Scott Greaves he used two Sharpie markers to dye the wood. One green and one blue and then he used a cotton ball dampened with alcohol (didn't have any denatured so it was good old drug store variety rubbing alcohol) to blend the two colors where they overlapped. Then I helped him apply a CA/BLO finish over top. Turned out very nice. You could see the figure of the wood through the coloring. He was very proud and she was really "wow'd".


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## Dan_F (Dec 29, 2007)

I had a good result starting with a coat of BLO to pop the grain, then 3 coats of BLO/CA as per Russ' video in the library. To get a higher lustre, I used the Beall Buffing sequence after letting it cure over night. I'll try to get a phot tomorrow using natural light, don't have a nice tent system for indoor shooting.

Dan


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## Marc Phillips (Dec 29, 2007)

Here's a cigar with a CA finish only...







... and here is another from the same batch of wood with a blue stain on it...






The curly maple shows up well under a see-through dye or stain...


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## dalemcginnis (Dec 29, 2007)

BLO/CA


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## Dan_F (Dec 30, 2007)

Here's a pic of the pen I mentioned above. One coat BLO, followed by 3 coats BLO/CA.






Dan


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## GaryMGg (Dec 30, 2007)

I use Walnut Oil then when it cures, I do a regular CA finish.
I find the walnut oil has less of a yellowing effect than BLO.


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## fernhills (Dec 30, 2007)

Hi,i dyed about 20 pens so far and i think it really does the lighter figured domestic type woods a real kick.I use water based anniline dyes,you can get it from wood craft,they call it another name but it is anniline dye,i use very little at a time.like about at end of a popsicle stick full.I bought little glass jars to store them in,they will last about six months,In the powdered dye form they will last forever   Carl


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## lostlugnut (Dec 31, 2007)

I just finished a couple candle holders for Christmas out of Cocobolo and curly maple. I was looking for a good way to get the wood to show off. I searched the web abd found a site that deals with makeing musical instruments. Thay said to use Tung oil.

What I did was take a rag and saturate it with tung oil and keep wiping it on the wood. The stripes sucked it up like a beer at a frat party. I did three real good slatherings and for the holder but a wax finish on it. If you let the tung oil cure you can do the CA finish as usual. The final results were amazing.


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## Hello (Dec 31, 2007)

I do two things with curly maples.....both have little to do with the finish itself.....I generally just apply a CA finish. Before finishing though, I sometimes dye the pen with coffee that I made with alcohol and infused into boiled linseed oil....or i scorch the grain lightly with a little butaine torch....careful with the torch though, its easy to get "splotches" of scorching


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## ken69912001 (Dec 31, 2007)

Any body ever thought about trying leather? At Tandy leather they have some really nice colors. I bought some blue and turquoise dye. It seems to really stay on the blank much better when I apply the CA over the top of it.


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