MIMF

I need some information on staining quilted maple.
I have already finished some flamed maple, with good results. For that wood, I stained black, sanded back, and then stained my color.
finished up with lacquer.

Is it the same technique for quilted maple?
Or do I simply stain what ever color I am using, depending on the grain to show up nicely?

I do have some scrap, so I am going to try a straight stain on it to see what happens.

Here's a pic of the flamed maple.



And the back.

Hi Gordon,

I think you get the gist of it. With quilted I would recommend sanding even more throughly if that's possible and raising the grain at least 2 times. I've had my best results with a clear sealer and thin tinted coats sprayed or fogged over that. I've heard that it's possible to spray MEK dyes directly onto the wood but I don't know where to get those. I've certainly tried the wiped-on alcohol-aniline dyes but was never happy with the results. It always looked blotchy no mater how much I wetted the wood first and tried to push the dye around afterwards.

I always sand to 220, raise the grain with water, and re-sand. Finally, wash the wood down with Naptha to clean, and check my sanding.
Naptha doesn't raise the grain.

I have had good luck staining bare wood before, and the colors do seem to be more vivid. Usually wipe on, water base stain. I find alcohol evaporates too quickly, giving me the blotchy look.

I guess the question I have is: Do I need to stain a dark color first, to accent the quilt?
OR
Simply stain with the color I'm using?

I sanded to 220, then wiped on water to raise the grain. When dry, I wiped on a very dilute violet photo retouching dye (it's what I had) in alcohol BEFORE sanding back, which I think improved the contrast of the figure. Then I sanded back, wiped on light amber shellac, then sprayed the lacquer clear coats. I think the amber over the violet made a nice warm brown hue (but not quite as warm in daylight as the color in this photo).

Much of the blotchy effect you get is from too much liquid. You get the best result from strong color and a nearly dry (damp) pad. That way you can control the color, but when it's wet it just goes everywhere and not evenly. You control the color on the surface, if it soaks in you have lost the battle. Practice on some scrap wood. get the technique down and THEN do your fancy wood body.

Figured wood does not need "figure enhancement", though there are some techniques that if well done can be dramatic.

On violins (1/4 sawn maple) it's just the opposite.

First: Seal the wood (some use hide glue) with a thinned varnish.

Lightly wet sand (800+ ?) to knock down any 'burrs'.

Then varnish.

Then a color glaze (tapped to even out).

Then varnish again and polish.

It retains the depth of the flame.

Some do more layers, but that's the general idea.

Wood that is stained raw soaks up color in the grain and tends to obscure the depth and appears blotchy to my eye.

When in doubt, I test on scraps.

Hi, New from Western Australia and I really like this style quilt. I need help to find the same quilt or at least quilt cover that I could make it myself!

pauls wise wrote:Hi, New from Western Australia and I really like this style quilt. I need help to find the same quilt or at least quilt cover that I could make it myself!

Pauls,

Welcome to the forum!
As you have no doubt noticed, this thread is quite old, but that's OK.

I buy my quilted maple from a Canadian supplier from Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada.
They are called Bow River Woods.
I have no idea how much shipping would be, but their prices are quite competitive.

An alternative would be a quilted maple veneer.