I watched a video that was about finishing curly maple gun stocks. The used 2 coats of a iron nitrate solution followed by a lot of direct heat from a heat gun. Then Tried and True varnish oil was applied. It was beautiful.
If you've ever grown any houseplants, you've seen how plants will slowly move over time to grow closer to the light. You can see this very prominently in aroids like the _Monstera deliciosa_ which will actually twist the petiole into a contorted shape so the leaf top is facing the sun or grow light directly. Maple exhibits this same behavior. Maple trees that are grown near larger trees, for example, will actually bend and contort to have more leaves exposed to areas that are not shaded by the larger tree. What ends up happening as a result is that the grain will compress and disfigure in a way that preserves the integrity of the fibers that make up the grain while reducing their total height. This results in a rolling pattern that looks like this curly maple texture when cut straight-much like the way your skin around your belly will roll when you bend a certain way. This does result in denser wood, but consistent throughout the compressed side of the trunk. If a tree is bending only in a single direction, you would see the curly maple only on one side of the trunk. That said, since the motion of the sun moves shade, in most wild cases, it's plenty common for the figure to present (though at different prominence) throughout the trunk. The specific mechanism that allows maple to move in this way faster than most trees without compromising the integrity of its structure is what presents this prominent figure. You can actually find this curly figure to a much less prominent degree in many other types of wood. (I have a walnut board I'm working on right now that has a very slight curly figure to it in spots.)
What GRIT is best to use? How long after stain do you wait to sand? How long until final top coat of Tung Oil? What is the safest, healthiest finished- water based? Thanks!
Typically sanding to 220 grit is fine enough, although you can feel free to go to 320 on harder woods. Usually wait a couple hours minimum to sand after staining with water based finish. And I give it overnight before topcoat with Tung Oil. And I’m sorry I don’t have enough experience with water based finish to advise you well on which is best...assuming you mean a water based topcoat of some sort. Hope that helps, thanks for watching! 👍😎
@@EpicWoodworking Thanks, so you can use TUNG OIL as a final coat over water stains? Do you do a final sand before top coat? Do you use a sealer after staining coats to keep the color locked in?
I have ‘figured’ out figuring in wood like curly maple. The key is your clue regarding big trees going down and then being surrounded by curly maple. When a big tree goes down, the forest canopy opens up. More sun, yes, but also more stress like wind, frost, and snow. The seeding and saplings are wind whipped more, frosted and pushed down by snow more. The wave pattern in the grain enhances the mechanical strength of the stem/trunk, as the little tree reacts to these early stressors. Were I a tree scientist, I would stress the cr_p out of seedings and saplings in various ways to see what happens later to the grain. My insight comes from having worked in forestry, planting trees for many years, and also from having grown many plants, and observed the lasting effect early stress can have on them. (applies equally to animals, too, of course…)
I submit that most sugar maples and red maples become curly with size and age. You can see the bae of most sugar maples of 2 ft or larger is curly. The most likely to become figured at a smaller size and younger age are in fact ash maples which are also known as boxelder though this is a misnomer.
Funny, I ‘invented’ a variation of this technique last year. I used walnut stain on bleached oak, sanded off leaving the grain pattern stained dark. White stain then white-toned hard wax oil left a white finish with pinkish hints and strong dark oak grain pattern.
I have a beautiful, blonde curly maple Hagstrom Viking Super Deluxe guitar. I’m here because I just bought curly pear veneer for speaker cabinets I am building, inspired by the look of the guitar. I may dye or I may fume the pear.
Very interesting! I'm making some frame and panel doors out of zebrawood with a basswood frame (didn't want a grainy frame wood to compete with the zebrawood panels). Do you have a recommendation for finishing zebrawood? I'm thinking of trying your sequence of yellow dye, shellac then burnt umber glaze. I'd like to somehow darken the basswood a bit to match the lighter part of the zebrawood - any suggestions? Any advice greatly appreciated! Thanks!
I’ve only finished Zebrawood naturally using oil varnish. It warms up the lighter wood to a rich golden color with nice variations and complements the darker striped grain. It is an open grained wood, so if you plan to add color like a glazing stain, try it out on a sample first to see how you like it. The open grain will catch the color as well and will affect the appearance, perhaps to your liking. Hope that makes sense and helps! Tom
HI Sam, sorry for the delayed response. I think you'll find this video will give you some helpful information:: ua-cam.com/video/HTTldx09C9k/v-deo.html
Heyy can you make a new videos like this for pop up figure of flame maple guitar neck, i really appreciated your channel, love dude and i said like “auto subscribe” haha, please for next video, for staining a neck guitar please 🥺🥺
Awesome, thank you! I’m sure I will be doing more on finishing figured wood like this as we go along. But if you want to go deeper with this particular method as applied to guitars I recommend checking out the UA-cam videos from the PRS guitar makers, which is where I got some of my techniques as I mentioned in the video. Here’s a video I think you will enjoy: ua-cam.com/video/HTTldx09C9k/v-deo.html
I’d much prefer to see the work and the woods and so on, but military? Really? As nice as it sound that soldiers serving they’r country, do we not know enough of how corrupt all the wars in particular the last few with the intruders such as the usa and the uk? The brave soldiers that went in those wars killed also people that lived and worked with woods and other beautiful things, lost they’r homes, they’r life’s and they’r families lost they’r brothers, fathers, neighbours and so many of they’r country men! What an hypocritical talk here, really! Is there really something great to celebrate about the forces that the governments uses to suppress other fellow human beings?
I watched a video that was about finishing curly maple gun stocks. The used 2 coats of a iron nitrate solution followed by a lot of direct heat from a heat gun. Then Tried and True varnish oil was applied. It was beautiful.
If you've ever grown any houseplants, you've seen how plants will slowly move over time to grow closer to the light. You can see this very prominently in aroids like the _Monstera deliciosa_ which will actually twist the petiole into a contorted shape so the leaf top is facing the sun or grow light directly.
Maple exhibits this same behavior. Maple trees that are grown near larger trees, for example, will actually bend and contort to have more leaves exposed to areas that are not shaded by the larger tree. What ends up happening as a result is that the grain will compress and disfigure in a way that preserves the integrity of the fibers that make up the grain while reducing their total height. This results in a rolling pattern that looks like this curly maple texture when cut straight-much like the way your skin around your belly will roll when you bend a certain way.
This does result in denser wood, but consistent throughout the compressed side of the trunk. If a tree is bending only in a single direction, you would see the curly maple only on one side of the trunk. That said, since the motion of the sun moves shade, in most wild cases, it's plenty common for the figure to present (though at different prominence) throughout the trunk.
The specific mechanism that allows maple to move in this way faster than most trees without compromising the integrity of its structure is what presents this prominent figure. You can actually find this curly figure to a much less prominent degree in many other types of wood. (I have a walnut board I'm working on right now that has a very slight curly figure to it in spots.)
I live in Mass so I know your pain.I hate that time of the year when it’s dark all the time
What GRIT is best to use?
How long after stain do you wait to sand?
How long until final top coat of Tung Oil?
What is the safest, healthiest finished- water based?
Thanks!
Typically sanding to 220 grit is fine enough, although you can feel free to go to 320 on harder woods. Usually wait a couple hours minimum to sand after staining with water based finish. And I give it overnight before topcoat with Tung Oil. And I’m sorry I don’t have enough experience with water based finish to advise you well on which is best...assuming you mean a water based topcoat of some sort. Hope that helps, thanks for watching! 👍😎
@@EpicWoodworking Thanks, so you can use TUNG OIL as a final coat over water stains? Do you do a final sand before top coat? Do you use a sealer after staining coats to keep the color locked in?
@@EpicWoodworking Why not go higher?? 400, 600?? seems like it makes the figure/grain transitions clearer, imho.
Excellent Video!!!
I have ‘figured’ out figuring in wood like curly maple. The key is your clue regarding big trees going down and then being surrounded by curly maple.
When a big tree goes down, the forest canopy opens up. More sun, yes, but also more stress like wind, frost, and snow. The seeding and saplings are wind whipped more, frosted and pushed down by snow more. The wave pattern in the grain enhances the mechanical strength of the stem/trunk, as the little tree reacts to these early stressors. Were I a tree scientist, I would stress the cr_p out of seedings and saplings in various ways to see what happens later to the grain.
My insight comes from having worked in forestry, planting trees for many years, and also from having grown many plants, and observed the lasting effect early stress can have on them. (applies equally to animals, too, of course…)
Nice info, thanks! Sounds like you have been in this game a long time and have real world experience…which is the best imho 😎
I submit that most sugar maples and red maples become curly with size and age. You can see the bae of most sugar maples of 2 ft or larger is curly. The most likely to become figured at a smaller size and younger age are in fact ash maples which are also known as boxelder though this is a misnomer.
So many great tips! Thanks Tom!
My pleasure Brad, glad you enjoyed it! 👍
Funny, I ‘invented’ a variation of this technique last year. I used walnut stain on bleached oak, sanded off leaving the grain pattern stained dark. White stain then white-toned hard wax oil left a white finish with pinkish hints and strong dark oak grain pattern.
That’s awesome, I remember seeing a master, George Frank, demonstrate a similar approach with beautiful results…very inventive of you! 👏😎
Aquafortis is iron nitrate, used on colonial aged flintlocks etc. Awesome stain.
Thank you for that, you are the second commenter to suggest trying iron nitrate. I’m curious what the color/effect is that it produces. 👍😎
I have a beautiful, blonde curly maple Hagstrom Viking Super Deluxe guitar. I’m here because I just bought curly pear veneer for speaker cabinets I am building, inspired by the look of the guitar. I may dye or I may fume the pear.
Sounds beautiful! Feel free to send photos of your finished results if you have any 👍
Very enlightening as always...thanks
Thank you, so glad you enjoyed it! 👍
Very interesting! I'm making some frame and panel doors out of zebrawood with a basswood frame (didn't want a grainy frame wood to compete with the zebrawood panels). Do you have a recommendation for finishing zebrawood? I'm thinking of trying your sequence of yellow dye, shellac then burnt umber glaze. I'd like to somehow darken the basswood a bit to match the lighter part of the zebrawood - any suggestions? Any advice greatly appreciated! Thanks!
I’ve only finished Zebrawood naturally using oil varnish. It warms up the lighter wood to a rich golden color with nice variations and complements the darker striped grain. It is an open grained wood, so if you plan to add color like a glazing stain, try it out on a sample first to see how you like it. The open grain will catch the color as well and will affect the appearance, perhaps to your liking.
Hope that makes sense and helps! Tom
Love the lighter color
i want paint sunburst guitar black and brown wich stain i need to used thanks
HI Sam, sorry for the delayed response. I think you'll find this video will give you some helpful information:: ua-cam.com/video/HTTldx09C9k/v-deo.html
You should give iron nitrate a try
Okay, I think I will. What is the color/effect gained when using iron nitrate?
thanks
Thanks for watching! 👍😎
Awesome tips for curly maple. Thanks for another great session of SNL
Thanks Kerry! 👍
Heyy can you make a new videos like this for pop up figure of flame maple guitar neck, i really appreciated your channel, love dude and i said like “auto subscribe” haha, please for next video, for staining a neck guitar please 🥺🥺
Awesome, thank you! I’m sure I will be doing more on finishing figured wood like this as we go along. But if you want to go deeper with this particular method as applied to guitars I recommend checking out the UA-cam videos from the PRS guitar makers, which is where I got some of my techniques as I mentioned in the video. Here’s a video I think you will enjoy: ua-cam.com/video/HTTldx09C9k/v-deo.html
Its like the tree is confused.
Old white cotton t-shirts
I’d much prefer to see the work and the woods and so on, but military? Really? As nice as it sound that soldiers serving they’r country, do we not know enough of how corrupt all the wars in particular the last few with the intruders such as the usa and the uk? The brave soldiers that went in those wars killed also people that lived and worked with woods and other beautiful things, lost they’r homes, they’r life’s and they’r families lost they’r brothers, fathers, neighbours and so many of they’r country men! What an hypocritical talk here, really! Is there really something great to celebrate about the forces that the governments uses to suppress other fellow human beings?
Okay, okay, not trying to make a grand statement here, or ruin your day.