Finishing Maple Plywood

[Jeff Caskie]

I am still working on my first project (entertainment center).. and have a number of things to do yet, but I am starting to think about the finishing process so I can get things ordered that I need. I am trying to match my existing maple furniture as close as possible. It shouldn't be too hard, since the veneered furniture has many different shades in it to begin with. Essentially, I am looking for a 'honey' like/golden finish.

What suggestions do you have for finishing? I will try to post pics of my furniture in the hopes that it will display ok.

[Dan Lyke]

I'm no finishing expert, and color matching is hard do to with physical samples let alone on the web where every monitor and digital camera combination will result in a different hue, but that looks an awful lot like what I got recently with "Deft Step Saver Stain & Finish", the "Golden Oak" color, applied to birch plywood.

I used it 'cause it's what my local hardware store had on the shelf.

If there's something with less "golden", that'll probably be closer to your needs, but, again, without calibrated monitors there's no real way to get closer.

I also have a birch ply entertainment center I built that I just finished in shellac, but that as aged to a darker color, but I think that unless you apply that with a little more intent than I did you'll end up with a more matte finish than those pictures seem to be showing.

[Jeff Caskie]

I'm no finishing expert, and color matching is hard do to with physical samples let alone on the web where every monitor and digital camera combination will result in a different hue, but that looks an awful lot like what I got recently with "Deft Step Saver Stain & Finish", the "Golden Oak" color, applied to birch plywood.

I used it 'cause it's what my local hardware store had on the shelf.

If there's something with less "golden", that'll probably be closer to your needs, but, again, without calibrated monitors there's no real way to get closer.

I also have a birch ply entertainment center I built that I just finished in shellac, but that as aged to a darker color, but I think that unless you apply that with a little more intent than I did you'll end up with a more matte finish than those pictures seem to be showing.

Thanks for the suggestion Dan. It seems my finishing question doesn't draw much attention on two boards. I would have thought more people had experience finishing maple plywood. I am making a trip to Woodcraft to pick up some things at their sale. I think they carry some items that are not normally found in HD/Lowes/Sears/Ace... and was hoping to have a list of things to get. I will look for Deft Step Saver.

[Mark Rios]

I"m no finishing expert by ANY means but.....I just had my maple cabinets finished, I finally found a guy to finish them so I didn't have to finish them myself.

The customer wanted a stained finish at first but then changed their mind to just a clear finish. I made up some sample of different types of clear finished maple for them to choose from.

Blo darkened the maple the most of the finishes that I sampled. It came out kinda goldeny-yellowy.

Min-Wax Tung Oil was a little lighter but the grain was not as prominent as with BLO. (This is what my customer decided on.)

However, the cabinet finisher that I hired showed me a sample of some of my maple with just a sealer and a clear finish on it and it was a goldeny-yellow like the BLO but without quite as much grain popping.

That's all that I can provide (not that's it very much at all). HTH

[Anthony Anderson]

Jeff, sorry I didn't get to your post sooner. Sometimes you have to "bump" your thread back to the first page of posts for it to catch the right person's attention. I am not claiming to be the right person though , but here are some things that you might want to try. 1. An amber shellac. 2. Waterborne lacquer and Transtint Honey Amber dye, mix a small sample first until you get the tone you want. Make sure to record the ratio that you used to get the color/tone that you want (ie. 1/2 pint of water based lacquer to 3 drops of Transtint Dye). Once you have the color just use the ratio to mix the amount you need. 3. I would recommend Jeff Jewitt's new book Great Wood Finishes. It explains every aspect of finishing. I picked it up about a month ago and really like it. He addresses every finish you can imagine, as he has done all of them. 4. Another possibility is traditional NC lacquer, and let it age, it will take some time to get the results, but it give you a similar tone that you have on the coffee table (I believe that was what you posted a picture of). Good Luck. I hope some of this helps. Bill

[Jeff Caskie]

However, the cabinet finisher that I hired showed me a sample of some of my maple with just a sealer and a clear finish on it and it was a goldeny-yellow like the BLO but without quite as much grain popping.

thanks for the info. any idea what the sealer and clear finish was called?

[Jeff Caskie]

Jeff, sorry I didn't get to your post sooner. Sometimes you have to "bump" your thread back to the first page of posts for it to catch the right person's attention. I am not claiming to be the right person though , but here are some things that you might want to try. 1. An amber shellac. 2. Waterborne lacquer and Transtint Honey Amber dye, mix a small sample first until you get the tone you want. Make sure to record the ratio that you used to get the color/tone that you want (ie. 1/2 pint of water based lacquer to 3 drops of Transtint Dye). Once you have the color just use the ratio to mix the amount you need. 3. I would recommend Jeff Jewitt's new book Great Wood Finishes. It explains every aspect of finishing. I picked it up about a month ago and really like it. He addresses every finish you can imagine, as he has done all of them. 4. Another possibility is traditional NC lacquer, and let it age, it will take some time to get the results, but it give you a similar tone that you have on the coffee table (I believe that was what you posted a picture of). Good Luck. I hope some of this helps. Bill

good info here. What does 'NC' stand for?

[Anthony Anderson]

good info here. What does 'NC' stand for?

Nitro Cellulose. It refers to the type of resin. Check out the wikipedia link (hope this is allowed), scroll down to Nitro Cellulose Lacquer and it has a brief description. Keep asking questions, not sure/don't understand, ask again. Regards, Bill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacquer

[Jeff Caskie]

Let's say I decide on one of those... do I then have to protect/seal it in some way? ie Poly?

[Anthony Anderson]

Let's say I decide on one of those... do I then have to protect/seal it in some way? ie Poly?

Jeff, if you use any of the dyes, I would seal the wood first with thinned/cut dewaxed shellac to prevent any blotching, as maple tends to blotch. Allow the shellac to dry and then lightly sand with 220 or 320. Then apply the dye (after you have determined the color/tone that suits you), wipe excess, allow to dry, and then topcoat with a water base poly or a water base lacquer. Target Coatings has the WB lacquer, although I have not used it, I have read very good things about it. Do a search here at Sawmill Creek and you will find a lot of info on that.

If you go with the NC lacquer: When I use NC lacquer, I always thin/cut and spray, but you have to be careful as the fumes are nasty. Ideally, you should spray in an area separated from the house with exhaust fand and ventilation. You will need a spray mask. Spray 3-4 coats, sanding between coats with 220-320 to remove any dust nibs or fuzzies that may have been overlooked, and then spray the last coat.

If you brush the NC lacquer: I have to cut the lacquer,usually about 20-30 percent, to get it to lay the way I want without it drying too fast and gumming up my brush. Brushing will take a lot longer than spraying, so be patient.

In either case for the NC lacquer, the lacquer is the protective coating, you do not need to do anything else. Just wait for mother nature (light) to change the color of the lacquer. Does this help? Bill

[Joe Chritz]

Only advice I will add is to make up samples of everything.

Record what you did and in what order.

The advice of putting on a light sealcoat before any stain or dye is a good one. I have some bad blotching area on my kitchen cabs because I did not follow that advice.

Joe

[Mark Rios]

I don't know what the exact product names are but they are Benjamin Moore products. I'm sure that any of the major paint manufacturers have comparable materials.

Jim Becker really likes the Target Coatings materials, the last I heard. I believe that they are a water-based product.

[Eric Wong]

I agree with Joe, make a sample board or three by using a board from the same batch as the furniture you are making. I often use a board about 24" x 4" or so. Then use the table saw or bandsaw to put shallow kerfs in the board every 3 inches across the face. Now you can use each "panel" on the board for a different finish. Make sure to plane/scrape/sand the sample board exactly the same way as the furniture you are building.

If you are trying to choose between several topcoats and several stains or dyes, make a sample board for each topcoat, then try a variety of bases under that topcoat. I often use water-base dyes followed by orange or garnet shellac, followed by a topcoat like varnish or poly. Make sure to label each panel!

Once you've got a bunch of samples, bring them into the room with the furniture you are trying to match. Make sure you compare them under both natural and artificial light.

Using this method you can get very close with color matching.

[Jeff Caskie]

I just wanted to update everybody with my progress. I went to the Woodcraft sale with the intention of getting some
of the things mentioned in this thread. What a madhouse. Needless to say, I wasn't able to get everything I wanted.
I did pick up a few finishing supplies though.

I got:
- Zinsser Bulls Eye Clear Shellac - for a base coat
- WATCO Wipe-On Polyurethane, Satin
- Deft Water-Based Clear Wood Finish Satin Aerosol (for a final 'brushless finish)

Now, all of these are way to clear and natural to produce a 'honey' color. Testing on scrap wood confirmed this. I then
decided that I would try the Amber Shellac which is available at Lowes/HD. Way too yellow. I would be interested to hear
what this is typically used on.. because of it being so yellow. Not exactly the amber I was hoping for.

So I made another trip out to Woodcraft. This time, I went there with the intention of picking up some Transtint. I was
going to try adding it to either the clear shellac, or amber shellac to see what I could come up with. Well, in
talking with one of the Woodcraft employees, he pretty much po-pood that idea. What he did do for me though.. is tried
a few different Water based stains (General Finishes) on a piece of scrap wood I brought with me. After about 3 tries,
I ended up agreeing to one which was pretty close: 'Golden Oak'. I wasn't super happy with it... but didn't want to be too
anal and ask to try every one they had in stock.

When I got home... I tried the stain on a larger piece of scrap wood.. and decided it wasn't close enough for me.

I then decided to hit the local stores to see what else I could find. At Lowes, I grabbed a number of the sample packs (Olympic stain)
they carry. These are great.. but they don't carry them in all colors. I tried:

Aged Maple, Honey Oak, Colonial Maple, Golden Pecan, Early American

I found a winner... 'Aged Maple'

So, I went back and bought a pint of it and tested it on a larger piece of scrap wood. Bummer, it is nothing like the sample.
I thought maybe it was because I didn't shake it. Tried again. Nope... still does not come close to the sample pack. Ok, now I am a bit
frustrated... and want to yell at something. I decide to hit HD and this time, I did not bother with sample packs. I decided
I will buy anything that looks like it will be close. I then hit a different Lowes and did the same thing. These are the ones
I ended up with:

MinWax: Golden Pecan, IPSwitch Pine, Colonial Maple, Antique Maple, Honey Maple Gel
Olympic: Golden Pecan, Aged Maple Gel

Out of all that, I have two winners. Olympic 'Aged Maple' Gel Stain and MinWax 'Antique Maple' Gel Stain. The Aged Maple is
the same as the original sample I had liked. I don't know why the first can I bought was so far off... but this one is it.
These two are very close.. and I am going back and forth between the two. When I use them as the first layer on the wood, I
like the Olympic better.. as the Minwax is a little more orange. When I use a base coat of the clear shellac, I think I like
the MinWax better. I do have to do two coats over the shellac though. One coat is too light.

So, this is what my plans are so far:

Base Coat: Zinsser Bulls Eye Clear Shellac
Second Layer: Olympic 'Aged Maple' Gel Stain OR MinWax 'Antique Maple' Gel Stain (two coats)
Protective Layer: WATCO Wipe-On Polyurethane, Satin (multiple coats)
Finish Coat: Deft Water-Based Clear Wood Finish Satin Aerosol

Does this sound like a good plan? Any thoughts/comments??

[Mark Rios]

As I mentioned, I'm not a finisher by any means but I will say this....I really admire your thoroughness. Very impressive and great patience as well. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.