Past projects I've made have been pretty much pine or oak. I never had a jointer/planer til the last year or so, so I was at the mercy of the orange box for wood selection. But now, I can expland. So figured I'd try maple - I like the looks, never worked w/ it before. So I pick up some hard maple rough lumber and make a cabinet for our utility room.
Construction turned out very nice - was very happy w/ it. And w/ the exception of some dark spots in a couple boards it looked very good. Finished it w/ a medium stain - Minwax Golden Oak - to match a store bought sink cabinet. It stained and finished rather poorly IMHO. The stain soaked in almost like a soft wood in places giving it a blochiness that I didn't care for. So what did I do wrong??
This was my first hard maple project, and after thinking about it it occured to me that I've never seen maple finished w/ a medium stain. I've only seen really light to no stain, or a very dark stain.
So was that the problem - you just don't finish maple w/ a medium stain? Or should I have used a sealer first?? I thought that you didn't need a sealer w/ hard-woods. I've never needed one with oak, and never had this problem.
Any clues or help for future maple projects would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Perry