How to age maple?

[John TenEyck]

I found an article about using sodium nitrite and UV/sunlight, Roger, at makingtheviolin.com. Interesting article. I can't see myself trying it though, because of all the testing involved and the need to find a way to get uniform UV exposure on the table.

Ammonia fuming was another approach. Not going to try that either for the same reasons.

Thanks for making me aware of that idea.

John

[Edward Weber]

I put a piece of maple out in the sun this morning, I'll check back in after an 8 hour sunbath

[John TenEyck]

Here's a picture of one of the Lane Acclaim tables, at least 50 years old, so the colors include the effect of aging.



These tables typically were made from walnut and oak, but that doesn't look like oak to me. In any case, that's the golden glow my customer is referring to.

Here is a finish recipe I previously proposed:




I've made dozens and dozens of specimens. Here are a couple more after I started looking at OB varnish as the topcoat to get a golden glow.






I haven't shown the last two specimens to my customer yet. The first one seems directionally correct, but I'd like to get a little deeper amber on the maple. It was made with amber shellac + some Transtint Dark Vintage Maple, followed by the OB varnish, just one coat so more might make it darker. The other obvious idea would be to add more dye to the amber shellac.

Any thoughts?

John

[Todd Zucker]

This is not going to help much, but maybe some reference to help you save some Transtint samples if you go that route.

IMG_0514.jpeg

The table top on the bottom is 1/2 vintage maple, 1/2 medium brown, .5 oz per pint total, on soft maple, with a few coats of Arm R Seal gloss, from a few days ago. Darker than what you want. The small piece on top is half honey amber half golden brown on hard maple with several coats of Arm R Seal (from about 1 year ago, if that matters, but sitting on a shelf and not in daylight).

[Todd Zucker]

One more, just because the color comes out better from the other direction.

IMG_0515.jpg

[Christian Hawkshaw]

Here's a picture of one of the Lane Acclaim tables, at least 50 years old, so the colors include the effect of aging.



These tables typically were made from walnut and oak, but that doesn't look like oak to me. In any case, that's the golden glow my customer is referring to.

Here is a finish recipe I previously proposed:




I've made dozens and dozens of specimens. Here are a couple more after I started looking at OB varnish as the topcoat to get a golden glow.






I haven't shown the last two specimens to my customer yet. The first one seems directionally correct, but I'd like to get a little deeper amber on the maple. It was made with amber shellac + some Transtint Dark Vintage Maple, followed by the OB varnish, just one coat so more might make it darker. The other obvious idea would be to add more dye to the amber shellac.

Any thoughts?

John

Dying seems like the way to go...your first sample does look like it is in the neighborhood, but just more dye is needed. Todd's sample is close as well. You are definitely more patient than me doing so many samples .

[andrew whicker]

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Nitric acid below:
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This looks too yellow:

20240320_163733.jpg


The book: the art of coloring wood by Brian miller

[andrew whicker]

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More info on maple

[Prashun Patel]

John, which OB varnish are you using?

My initial instinct is to use Waterlox. It's on the darker side of the OB varnishes.

Or, dying with Amber Additive Transtint followed by your OB varnish?

[John TenEyck]

Thanks very much, Andrew. The NGR recipe is pretty much what I'm looking for. I made a specimen with Transtint Honey Amber, but it was far too yellow. This recipe adds a little Golden Brown to it to tone down the yellow.

John

[John TenEyck]

John, which OB varnish are you using?

My initial instinct is to use Waterlox. It's on the darker side of the OB varnishes.

Or, dying with Amber Additive Transtint followed by your OB varnish?

The darkest varnish I have is actually from True Value. The maple drawer fronts on the armoire Ron talked about above were done with Waterlox and looked much too light. Do you have any maple you've done with Waterlox?

The specimen I made with Honey Amber Transtint produced a very bright yellow. I'll evaluate it again with a much lower concentration. It looked great on the mahogany though. Anything with a yellow or orange tint looks really good on the mahogany.

Thanks.

John

[John TenEyck]

Thanks very much Todd. That is exactly the same recipe as in the reference Andrew showed.

Gotta order some TT Golden Brown.

John

[Prashun Patel]

Waterlox. I did this yesterday. YMMV.



IMG_9185.jpg

[John TenEyck]

Thanks for doing that, Prashun. Is that mahogany or Sapele? The maple looks just about right. And which Waterlox did you use, OSF, or? FYI, I need a satin sheen, too, and I'd rather not have to run it out to get there.

What a wonderful thing it would be to use nothing more than a wipe on varnish. Arm-R-Seal alone looks nothing like that, practically no change in color.

I really appreciate you taking the time to do this.

John

[Prashun Patel]

That's "Honduran" mahogany or so I was told when sold. It is definitely not sapelle.

I used Waterlox Original Sealer Finish (Original formulation).

Are you building a film? OSF tends to settle from gloss at application to semi-gloss at cure.

Also, as I know you know, if you don't build film with this, it will be satin. You could seal with it, high grit sand, then final polishing coat.