Finishes for Birdseye Maple???

[Rob5544321]

Hello,

I am trying some birdseye maple for a handle. Can someone tell me various ways of finishing it? Ive tried using just a bit of heat, small torch to lightly burnish the outside to bring out the inner grain and birdseye's. I didnt think it made much contrast between them and the wood was still very light.
Also i tried some stain. It gave much more contrast, but it still looked like another piece of "stained" wood.
Im hoping to find some way that will darken the wood, bring out the contrast of the grain and give it also a deep luster. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance,
Robert

[Chuck Burrows]

Howdy Robert -
I've been experimenting with various maple finishes (mainly for tiger stripe) and here's one you can try.

Sand to a 600 grit finish. Then burnish well with first 4/0 steel wool and then a coarse cloth such as old jeans or canvas (rub and until you feel the heat from rubbing hard). Burnishing can really make the difference between a so so finish and an eye popping one.

Now go to the hardware store and get a bottle of Muriatic Acid (aka hydrochloric aka HCL). Heat the wood with a hair dryer on high or a heat gun (paint stripper) - you can use a torch but be real careful not to scorch the wood or no matter what method overheat it. Wearing rubber gloves and a mask and with plenty of ventilation wipe on the acid - while still wet heat again with the haird dryer or heat gun until completely dry. To neutralize the acid wash down with a solution of water and baking soda or club soda. Let dry completely and then burnish again with 4/0 steel wool followed by the coarse cloth - this should really make the grain "pop" and it should turn it a nice golden tan/light brown. If you want it darker add a coat or two of leather dye and then burnish again before adding your finish.

As a finish I use Watco Danish Oil in neutral (or instead of dye you can use one of the colored oils) - slosh it on for three or four days until it won't take any more oil. Then with a cloth dampened in the oil rub off any excess which will remove the stickiness and then burnish good. You can add a final coat of wax if you wish to make it glossier.

You can of course use a polyurethane finish instead of the Watco if you wish.

Her's an example of a piece I did with the acid, a light coat of brown dye, and finished up with Watco.



As always experiment on some scrap -and use all precautions when using acid

[aiiifish]

I'm with you Chuck. The muratic acid really makes the contrast between the band show up well. This method works good with the birds eye also, but I've found that it needs the dye more so than the tiger maple.

[Predator]

Hi , Chuck
May have to send you my wood -- LOL . Thanks for that info--something I will have to try --- Thanks for sharing.

[Alain M-D]

Thanks for your receipe !
But... What is Muriatic Acid ? For what that is used normally?
I dont find them in my hardware store...

Alain M-D

[Chuck Burrows]

Alain-
Muriatic acid is about a 30% solution of Hydrochloric Acid - it is used for etching bricks and also for adjusting the PH balance of swimming pools.

Check with paint stores or maybe pool cleaning companies?

[Coutel]

Originally posted by Rob5544321
Hello,

I am trying some birdseye maple for a handle. Can someone tell me various ways of finishing it? Ive tried using just a bit of heat, small torch to lightly burnish the outside to bring out the inner grain and birdseye's. I didnt think it made much contrast between them and the wood was still very light.
Also i tried some stain. It gave much more contrast, but it still looked like another piece of "stained" wood.
Im hoping to find some way that will darken the wood, bring out the contrast of the grain and give it also a deep luster. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance,
Robert

Hi Robert.....good to see you here

I havent used Tiger or Birds Eye Maple as yet but I have used Curly Maple.

I use Chromium Trioxide to color the wood....works similiar to Muric Acid..it comes in crystal form and dilute with water.

It can be bought under a brand name 'Majestic'...by R H Wilson tel 304 723 2771.

Kevin

[aiiifish]

Thanks for the tip on burnishing with the denim Chuck. It really made a difference.

[thewap]

Great info on finishing Tiger Maple!, just used the technique on an old bowie handle that I re-shaped and re-finished. It's soaking up dye now, and looking pretty #### good!. Thank you for the post!

Marc

[trav]

robert .trail angel has the right idea .the chromium trioxide is the best we have found for all the maple we use on knives and tomahawks. we get ours from dixie gun works. part no.
\la0303-----6.00 ea 4 oz. bottle. thin with alcohol .think you will really like the finish.

trav

[EdStreet]

This is seen all to often in the muzzleloading arena and I should add there's quite an interesting assortment of formulas out there, I will post one that is safer and doesn't involve crossroads at midnight on halloween.

First off use lyewater in place of baking soda. Lyewater does a couple of things, all of them good (unless you get a drop on your skin or cloths). It brings out the tannen in the wood which darkens all of the surface, but moreso on the darker curl or burl than on the plain areas. This makes these darker areas stand out, increasing the contrast between the stripes/swirls. It removes all of the oil which has accumulated on the surface from your handleing it with your bare hands. This leaves a nice clean surface for the aquafortis or stains you wish to apply. Lye water does not attack metal so any inlays can be installed before using it. It should be neutrilized though if only to protect your skin when you touch the surfaces. Neutrilizing can be done with vinegar.

Wood preparation is critical to the finished appearance of the stain. If you use very fine sandpaper on the wood you fill the surface with sawdust. The stain solution will not get into the wood the way it should. Especially in the "curl". Scraping the wood with a good sharp scraper gives an open surface that allows the wood to pick up stain solution in proportion to how open the grain is. This is critical in bringing out the curl in the wood.

The maple has tannic acid in the wood. The amount of tannic acid varies greatly from one piece of wood to the next. So if you use a high concentration stain solution on a piece of woiod that is high in tannic acid the finished stock will darken considerably in the first five years after you finish it. But the curl becomes a really intense black color.

Here's the breakdown.

1 Mix ferric chloride at 3 to 1 distilled water to the crystals
2 Add between 2/3 and an equal amount of Muriatic Acid (aka hydrochloric).
3 If mix is too oranged/red add some small pieces of iron (degreased steel wool will work but old, rusty iron is better IMO) to the muriatic acid BEFORE mixing with the Ferric Nitrate mix -
4 Takes about a week to dissolve the iron.
5 OR use Ferric Chloride crystals and mix at 3 to 1 and then mix with the Ferric Nitrate.
6 Tweak the color to the red side by adding more muriatic acid or to the brown side by adding iron - wiping down with ammonia will also shift to the darker brown side.
7 Apply liberally and let dry thoroughly until the wood turns dark
8 Apply heat - 200-250F is about right - to get the color/chatoyance to "kick".
9 Neutralize with baking soda and water or lye (Red Devil).
10 Once dry apply your finish -

As for a finish consider 1 part turpentine, 1 part bee's wax and 1 part tung oil. melt the wax and mix all parts together, will look like shoe polish and apply in the same manner. when dry buff and you have quite a good look.

- A few notes on the 'old rusty iron' -

A bit of manganese in with the iron does not effect final colors. If there is ANY chrome in the iron it gives really funny colors. The early 19th century formulas for making nitrate of iron called for clean iron. If you use rusty iron the acid must break down the iron oxide before it can convert the iron to nitrate of iron. This gives the finished stain solution a lot of suspended muddy material.

The color of iron oxide will vary from a bright yellow (yellow ocher) to a very red iron oxide that looks almost black in high concentrations. With iron oxide pigments the color is effected by how many molecules of water are attached to each molecule of iron oxide. With a yellow ocher you have about 8 molecules of water attached to a molecule of iron oxide. Heating the iron oxide above the boiling point of water begins to drive off this water attached to the iron oxide. The color then changes to an orange, then brown and then red.

With the nitrate of iron you are applying a water-soluble form of iron to the wood. Then you convert it to iron oxide. That may be done with GENTLE heating or through the use of a mild caustic like baking soda or potassium carbonate.

Actual colors produced depends on the particle size of the iron oxide formed when you convert the ferric nitrate to iron oxide. How you convert it plays a role in the colors.

The chemicals I mentioned can be obtained at hardware stores and chemical companies like the science company. They are non-hazmat shipping items so you won't be paying obscene shipping charges.

As usual please use/mix this in a well ventilated area and wear needed safety devices.

Ed

[EdStreet]

forgot to add this.



I contacted the author of this photo and ask what type of iron was used with which number. This is his reply

1. brass
2. engine bolts
3. wire fence 3/32"
4. nails
5. unkown iron
6. cut nails
7. cast iron pipe
8. metal banding

8 coats of stain
8 coats of boiled linseed oil

[birdog4]

A not-so-toxic formula...
Take a mahogany colored stain, apply, dry then sand. You wilt have the stripes remaining(hopefully). Then do the chromic acid, dark stain, whatever. Gives ya a brighter color.
Sometimes I do the red mahogany, then MajesticMaple then finish with John Richards walnut flavord oil finish. Gives a real different
deep look. Just how I do it. bruce

[mcninch]

good ideas.

[jdm61]

Or you can just do what Bill Moran eventually figured out to do with maple. Go to Tandy or any other leather store and buy some Fiebings spiirit based leather dye. Dark Brown is the most popular color for this use, but buy some yellow to and maybe some mahoghany whihc is quite red. Mix up your own formula. After staining, hit it with boiled linseed oil until it won't take nymore. I hit it with 0000 steel wool between oilings. When done, wax it and buff. Yellow or yellow and a little bit of brown should do what you are looking for. Also remeber when you are fine sanding to get the wood damp and bring out the grain and then sand again. Do that a couple of times before you stain it. For an example of what dark brown, mahoganhy and yellow look like, go to the Newbie Kith gallery in the Special Projects forum and take a look. I will tellyou that in rel life, the handle is lighter and much more red from the mahoghany and yellow.