Question about staining figured maple

[mort]

I'm currently doing some experimentation on scrap pieces of flamed maple and I can't seem to find a good fit. It's either coming out too light or too dark. Just poking around for some other ideas. This is what I have tried...

Golden Pecan, no thinning/cutting. Looks nice but too light even after a couple coats. Would need to apply 10 coats to get to the richness/darkness I would like to achieve.

Red Mahogany. Love the color but too dark on the open grain of the figured parts even if I cut it in half with acetone and then sand it back. I just tried applying some Pre-stain sealer before applying some 1/2 cut stain and it's a little lighter but still too dark.


I guess it's ok to just keep cutting the darker stain until I get something usable?

Any other ideas?

[mort]

I think I have something figured out. Gonna use a couple coats of pre-stain treatment first. Then apply a heavily thinned coat of the red mahogany and sand some of it back off. After that, add as many coats of the golden pecan as I need until it achieves the desired richness. Once the color is right I will clear coat it with either Tung Oil or Poly. At least that's the experiment I'm running and so far it looks like it will be perfect... still always curious for other approaches to staining figured woods.

[Tom Phillips]

What is the process you use to apply the stain? I know that many stain directions say to paint in on, let sit for X minutes and then wipe off the excess. However, for difficult situations I like to wipe on the stain with a small piece of cloth. This gives me several more degrees of control such as how much stain is on the cloth, how fast you move, how much you spread in each area of the piece being stained etc. You can also see the darkness build and then you can stop when you have the desired look.

[mort]

I'm using cut up pieces of old hand towels. Here's a pic of a trial piece. It has the pre-stain conditioner and then a light to medium coat of the red mahogany so far. Tomorrow I will sand it back and then start applying the golden pecan stain.

[Tom Phillips]

...Tomorrow I will sand it back and then start applying the golden pecan stain.

Are you sanding it back because the stain raises the grain?

[mort]

Are you sanding it back because the stain raises the grain?

It's a two step staining process I read about. The idea is to increase the contrast between the figured parts or 'stripes' and the hard regular grain of the wood. It works like this:

First you apply a color of stain [and it should be darker than the stain used in the second step]. The figured parts are softer and will soak up more stain than the 'in between' parts. Then you sand it back to get the in between parts fairly close to natural wood color again, or just sand it back to your preferred contrast. The stripes will stay darker.

Then your second coat of stain can be a lightened version of the same color or a different color can be used so long as it's lighter colored so it doesn't over power the initial stain coat. That's how some of the flamed maple guitars are done. This one is a good example of how it's supposed to work. It looks like it was stained first with a black or dark gray stain, sanded back to natural leaving the black stripes, and then stained yellow.

[Tom Phillips]

It's a two step staining process I read about. The idea is to increase the contrast between the figured parts or 'stripes' and the hard regular grain of the wood...

Understood. Thanks for posting the detailed explanation and the photo.
Cheers,
Tom

[cyclone]

I've tried staining, etc curly maple with similar less than acceptable outcomes, then I found this Behlen amber lacquer in a bomb can, this finish took about 30 min for the head and footswitch



I usually fill with a couple of coats of shellac and sand most of it off, then hit it with the lacquer, b104-1202

[Tubenit]

I never use stain. I always use water based analine dye on figured wood. As already mentioned, stain then sand then stain then sand to "pop" the figured wood and make the figured wood look more intense.



With respect, Tubenit

[cyclone]

I've found that stain really dulls the 3d quality of the deep grain, makes it look 1 dimensional and takes all the highlights out. I prefer shellac in all cases as a grain filler, even with other topcoats like lacquer. I use lemon shellac flakes.

Bomb can shellac works ok, easier to apply evenly, I use lemon or amber shellac flakes.

I do strictly shellac based finishes now, this is a french polish. A bit labor intensive but super cheap and easy.

[cyclone]

Thats a HiFi set (lol) table I made for myself.

[tedmich]

I really like the depth I get with 3-6 coats of Liberon Finishing Oil topped with Renaissance wax

it even made the figured Bubinga veneer on a cheap Rogue 6-string bass pop once I stripped the dead polyester finish

[John_H]

I use keda dye. The kit comes with five different colors that can be blended. It's a great value at less than $15 "Wood Dyes - Keda Wood Dye Offers Five Highly Color Potent Wood Dye Colors Per Each Wood Dye Kit"

[Justin Thomas]

Agree - love using aniline dyes... So far have done blue, green, & purple, all alcohol and wiped on. I've done 2 guitars and one amp cab. My first was a 1980 Fender Lead II that was already hacked. I stripped it down to bare ash, did solid black then sanded it back, then did it in emerald green, with just sand & sealer over it. The contrast is great, with the grain pits being dark black. And I love the texture of the wood. My tele had a maple veneer over ash, so I did the edges in black and then did the faces with the same black/sand/blue. I tried doing the whole mirror finish nitro thing, but got impatient. And it looks like a guitar from the 70s now. The amp cab was white pine, with black edges and purple facings.

Justin

[John_H]

Yes. There is so much that you can do with the dye. On this guitar, I didn't want much contrast on the figuring, and I was hoping for a natural appearance. I used the dye for some subtle tinting.

Another "natural"