Townsend queen anne chest in curly maple

[Calvin Hobbs]

Beautiful. I remember discussing this chest with you a few years ago. Congrats on getting it done! CH

[richard poitras]

Nice job looks great.. Thanks for posting pic's

[Dave Novak]

If you wouldn't mind sharing, I'd love to read about your finishing schedule. I'm not far from beginning the finish process on a similarly figured maple entertainment center.

[Tom Sontag]

I figured somebody would ask. I committed to getting the best oil finish I could, and I would repeat all of these steps:

Sand to 220
Wipe on a fairly dilute wash of transtint dye (dark vintage maple, I think). I could have gone darker but preferred a subtler pop. Let dry.
Sand with 320. The curly highlights are barely more visible after this. I use compressed air after sanding.
Wipe on a 50% diluted coat of S&W Polymerized tung oil. Wipe off and let dry 3 days or more. There's the curl!
Sand with 400.
Wipe on another 50% diluted coat of the oil. Wipe it off after 30 minutes or so and again an hour or so later. Do not let any of those little oil seepages dry into hard puddles. This is the hand rubbing part of oil finishes that makes a difference.
After another day or two of drying, sand with 600.
You can step up the oil coat to maybe 75% oil/25% diluter. Same wiping strategy.
The oil is starting to build and you might repeat the 600 grit/75% oil step once or twice more. One day of drying is now probably enough, but you will notice that all other shop activity is stopped because of this finishing routine. This is why everyone prefers fast and easy finishes!
Before the final one or two coats of undiluted oil I sanded lightly with 800 grit. If you prefer less sheen then stay with some dilution to the oil.
The curing oil will give off an odor for another couple months.

A lot of bother, but I have never had anything leave my shop that I felt better about finish-wise.