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maple is tough one - because it is so dense and grain swirly (?) it is very erratic about absorption. i use a 1# cut of shellac as a wash coat - hoping that the dna will carry the shellac into the wood - at times will use 2 or 3 of these wash coats with some light sanding in between. after that dries well i pad in a few coats of 2# coats - then spray with lacquer.
this seems to help the final finish coat be more uniform.
hope this helps
jerry
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One person's splotch is another person's grain (I guess), so I like BLO on maple. But I also like dyes which give a uniform color on it when needed. You do need to be careful top coating dyes. Most are diluted with water (some with alcohol, some with either) and trying to brush a waterborne (or shellac on the alcohol diluent type) can really screw things up. Oil based finishes go on just fine, the others are best sprayed.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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(07-05-2018, 08:36 AM)®smpr_fi_mac® Wrote: I recently discovered (and love!) shellac. I particularly love using it on cherry and walnut. I tried it on maple the other day and was a bit...underwhelmed. I'm using blonde shellac.
I have some spray lacquer I just bought, but haven't given it a try yet. I enjoy using BLO, but not on maple, because it's often splotchy.
Any advice? Most of the stuff I build is pretty small, boxes mainly.
You might consider Arm-R-Seal. This is semi-gloss on curly maple:
John