How should I finish soft maple

[Ryan Wood]

So I have been making a desktop clock out of soft maple and I dont know how to finish it so it ends up nice. I dont realy want to stain it because maple is to nice to stain and I want it to be a light color. I am thinking about using danish oil or shelac but I am not sure how either one of those would turn out. In the past I have used mineral oil and once used danish oil and it turned out well. So what is a good way to finish soft maple so it will be light but have some color to it.

[Scott Holmes]

An oil/varnish blend (aka Danish oil) will add some color over time. Most store bought danish oils have linseed oil in them which will cause it to darken over time.

Shellac is color fast and the only darkening will be the natual patina of the wood.

Either will work just fine on a desktop item.

[John Michaels]

Minwax wipe on poly works good.

[Prashun Patel]

I'm not sure using poly on soft maple is a good thing in this case. It will yellow over time.
I'd go for shellac, if it were me.

[Ryan Wood]

Ok thanks. so it sounds like I would be fine using any one of those finishes.

[glenn bradley]

The back panels in this cabinet are soft maple with just dewaxed clear shellac on them.

[Ryan Wood]

Thats a realy nice cabinet. I realy like how the maple looks with the shellac. I think that I am going to use shellac on my clock because of how good the maple you finished with it looks.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The back panels in this cabinet are soft maple with just dewaxed clear shellac on them.

Glenn,

By chance did you use the Zinsser in a spray bomb?

[glenn bradley]

Glenn,

By chance did you use the Zinsser in a spray bomb?

Zinsser SealCoat padded on. Once you get used to padding (and making a good pad) even spraying seems more trouble than its worth. I have had troubles with orange peel when using Zinsser's spray can product; could just be too dry and sunny out here on the left coast . This can be rubbed out but, I find that 2 padded coats of a 1# cut of SealCoat can do many things well.

[Ryan Wood]

How do you pad on a finish ?

[Kent A Bathurst]

How do you pad on a finish ?

To the extent I can send you in the right direction, I know of two ways - the correct way, and my way. Scott [Obi-Wan] Holmes is also a good resource, if he jumps in here.

For the correct way, go to Homestead Finishing, click on Articles, and read Padding Shellac - Jeff does a good job of walking you through it.

My way - not up to his standards - I barely dampen a soft rag with BLO, and wipe/rub it on - just barely enough to transfer to the wood......and I wait a few hours. Pops the grain.

Then, I use padding cloth [I use the stuff Jeff sells.....I like it better than others I have tried, but that's a personal preference]. I fold up three layers so that it is basically a square the width of my four fingers. I be sure to have a crease-less leading edge, and no bits or corners hanging out of the folded pad.

~1# cut, and apply it like an airplane landing and taking off - do the 3" to the left edge, then land in that bit and take it to the end - the trick for me is to never hit the edge of the board on landing.

Just keep moving across the piece, reloading from a squirt bottle as needed. For a small piece, wait maybe 5 minutes before re-coating, for a larger piece, you can pretty much start in immediately on the next coat.

I will put down maybe 3 coats, and let it sit for some number of hours, then smooth it off with 600g 3M 216, and do it all again. And do it all again. After 3d sanding, I make one last padding pass - the final surface. I don't think this is too much - others may differ - but with a 1# cut, I am not laying down very much solids content per pass. Never had any problems.

I have also rubbed it out afterwards.........easy to do and looks great.

PSA: The Voice of Experience would tell you that when you are reloading with the squirt bottle, turn your back to the workpiece, so your body is taking the hit from any invisible flying droplets of shellac. You will never see them hit the workpiece....but they will.

[Prashun Patel]

I'll go one-step lower shelf than Kent:

For the first coat, I use a foam or chip brush specifically for this purpose. I paint on a coat or two of Sealcoat or 1.5# my-mix.

After an hour, I sand with 320, 220, or 400g (whatever's closest @ hand).

Then I use a quartered blue shop towel. I just dip and wipe. The key is avoiding "dipping to dripping". You just want to get the leading 3/4"ish edge of the rag wet. Wipe and keep wiping until it starts to drag.

The key to getting a flawless shellac finish, IMHO, is using a thinner cut. It actually doesn't increase the number of coats dramatically, because you're aiming for a thin even coat anyway. If the cut's south of the 1.5# range, it's pretty easy to avoid drips, runs, and sags even when applying like a caveman (read, me).

[Scott Holmes]

Here's a couple of articles a friend of mine wrote on padding shellac... I have found no better way to pad shellac; so there is no point in rewriting his words.

Making a shellac pad: http://www.hardwoodlumberandmore.com...r-Shellac.aspx

Appling shellac: http://www.hardwoodlumberandmore.com...g-Shellac.aspx

Practice on something other than your project.

[Todd Willhoit]

An oil/varnish blend (aka Danish oil) will add some color over time. Most store bought danish oils have linseed oil in them which will cause it to darken over time.

Scott,
Will Formby's Tung Oil Finish add color over time as with the Danish oils?

Todd

[Scott Holmes]

Forby's Tung Oil Finish is a highly thinned (like 80%) alkyd resin/soya oil varnish. The only tung oil is printed on the label. Real Tung oil does not darken with age as much as linseed oil. Neither does alkyd resin/soya oil varnish.