What makes curly maple really pop?

[Bill Wyko]

So I'm building my new work bench, the base is doubled up 8/4 curly maple. I'd like to really make it pop so I turn to the pro's here at SMC. What do you guys think I should finish it with to really make it come alive?

[Scott Holmes]

I finish my workbenches with an oil/varnish blend. Equal parts of boiled linseed oil, varnish, and mineral spirits.
This will pop the grain and also give you an easy to refreash surface for your work bench. I don't usually sand any finer than 100 grit makes the bench less slippery.

This will pop the grain but on a work bench most of the time in my shop you can't see the top very well...

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Hi Bill - I'm right in the middle of researching this topic as I have some great quilted maple that I want to make look fantastic.

For curly maple, from the reading I've done, a lot of people like to use a little dye to bring out the curl. Curl is really just end grain, so use that to your advantage to make it pop. Try a little die in some shellac, then sand back to remove it from the flat grain but leave the color in the curl, and then finish as you want. An oil varnish blend as Scott mentions would look fantastic.

[Bill Wyko]

Thanks, I'll play with both your ideas guys.

[Julie Moriarty]

This is quilted maple finished with BLO and spray lacquer.






The left side turned out just the way I wanted but the right side was a little too dark. In hindsight, I should have applied a wash coat first.

I am working on cabinet doors where the panels are sapele. Using the same BLO-lacquer route really didn't do a lot in making the wood pop. I went to dyes and found they really helped bring out the character of the wood. But it's been a real laboratory kind of experience, mixing up different formulas to try to get that perfect mix of the right tone and great pop.

The only thing to remember about BLO is it yellows over time, as will any oil. I know a lot of people love the clear white look of figured maple and if that's what you're after you may have to wait for the wood to darken naturally and use either lacquer or a WB top coat alone. I have a jewelry chest I started almost two years ago and the drawers are curly maple. I didn't like the plans I was using so I stopped and the drawers have been sitting unfinished all that time. I can now see the maple figure darkening and "coming into its own." But on the back panel, where I applied BLO and finished it with spray lacquer, it's turned an ugly yellow. That will probably become firewood when I get back to finishing the project.

[Bill Wyko]

Beautiful work, thanks for the info.