I have been working with green ambrosia maple and have tried using various oils, shallacs and deft to finish the projects but almost everytime I use one of these items the wood darkens considerably. Now I know that oils will do this but what kind of finish can I use that will protect the markings left by the beetle?
Eric
I seem to remeber polyurethane being good for staying clear.YMMV of course for some reason moyo brought snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com up from the deep depths of moyo's mind
That would be water-based poly, I'm sure. The oil in other polyurethanes will impart some color of its own as it cures.
Disadvantage of such is still the scatter that polymer size gives. If you like a satin finish, should suit. Else, shellac, ultra blonde, seems kindest to soft maple.
Yes, from what I've experienced and read the water-polys can actually impart a slight bluish tone. In some cases (very blonde woods) the wood can lose the "warmth" that's generally favored.
The bottom line is to test, test, test. To paraphrase a great and much missed contributor, Paul Rad(inovich, or something on those lines- everyone just called him Paully or Paul Rad) often advised to test on scrap or else you'll be testing on your finished pieces.
_____ American Association of Woodturners Cascade Woodturners Assoc., Portland, Oregon Northwest Woodturners, Tigard, Oregon _____
Eric,
Water based polyurethane looks cloudy in the can but dries clear and stays that way. Oil based poly yellows.
yes its called dimond coat or some such nonsense, looks like watery milk when you put it on, but it is good and durable. we used it on a shed we built for school, and it gets lots of wear there. only downsides are its not as glossy if thats what you want, and it seems to take a lot of it to do the same work as oil stuff,(more of it needs to be put on to get the same level of finish) and Its more expensive, because by hunting around, you can often get cheap oil varnish, we got two 4 liter(I think) cans of flintol, for 2$, the water based was around 5$IIRC for a little tiny can. also it doesn't work well if you use the same brush for oil, or vice versa. for some reason George brought 407a8638 snipped-for-privacy@newspeer2.tds.net up from the deep depths of George's mind
use a CA glue finish - see instructions in the tips section of
bill
Paul Radovanic. A great man; truly worthy of respect and admiration. He is still missed.
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