Tips for Woodworking with Maple
Along with cherry, walnut and oak, maple is considered to be among the
favorite hardwood choices for furniture building. Maple is generally
considered to be strong, durable and very pretty when properly finished.
Maple does have it's drawbacks. It can be temperamental, particularly when finishing, and is susceptible to shrinkage. Making sure that your maple is well-seasoned and properly acclimatized to your environment will make a big difference in how your maple woodworking projects turn out, and how they hold up over time.
Varieties of Maple:
When
buying maple from your lumber supplier, you may hear plenty of names
for the wood: tiger maple, curly maple, birds-eye maple, fiddleback
maple, red maple, soft maple, hard maple - the list goes on.
First of all, soft maple and red maple are typically the same thing. And the term soft maple is a bit of a comparative misnomer, as soft maple is harder than many other hardwoods (such as cherry). Soft maple is also often referred to as "tiger maple" for the tiger-like stripes in the wood, or curly maple, if the stripes are a bit more of the curly nature.
First of all, soft maple and red maple are typically the same thing. And the term soft maple is a bit of a comparative misnomer, as soft maple is harder than many other hardwoods (such as cherry). Soft maple is also often referred to as "tiger maple" for the tiger-like stripes in the wood, or curly maple, if the stripes are a bit more of the curly nature.
Hard maple varieties often will have more small knots that appear along the grain. This is often referred to as "birds-eye maple."
For years, maple was the wood of choice for building musical instruments. The term "fiddleback maple" came from this industry, as properly matched boards would be used to make the large back panels of guitars and fiddles.
For years, maple was the wood of choice for building musical instruments. The term "fiddleback maple" came from this industry, as properly matched boards would be used to make the large back panels of guitars and fiddles.
Woodworking with Maple:
Part
of the beauty of a properly built piece of maple furniture comes from
proper matching of corresponding boards. Care should be taken to ensure
that grain colors and patterns between neighboring boards should match
as closely as possible. Many woodworkers will go as far as to buy thick
maple stock and resaw it on a band saw,
aligning the cut sides together for a perfectly matched pair of panels.
This is particularly effective with tiger-striped maple used on drawer
fronts and cabinet doors.
Because
maple is such a hard wood, be certain that your tools, blades and bits
are particularly clean and sharp. Working with sharp tools on hard woods
is not only going to product better results, but it is actually safer
than if they are a bit dull, simply because the tools will cut cleaner
(and be less prone to tearing through the wood).
Finishing Maple:
As with other hard woods such
as cherry, maple can be a bit temperamental to finish, particularly when
staining. When applying a stain, be sure to use a pre-stain conditioner to try and even out the "blotchy" patches that tend to appear. This won't completely solve the problem though.
Stains tend to fill pores, cracks and crevices in wood. If the stain cannot find a pore to fill, it will be cleared away when the excess stain is wiped away.
Stains tend to fill pores, cracks and crevices in wood. If the stain cannot find a pore to fill, it will be cleared away when the excess stain is wiped away.
The key to evening out the stain is to sand the project thoroughly, using progressively finer sandpaper
grits. Start with 120 grit before moving up to 180, and finally 220.
Try to evenly sand the entire project with this final sanding. Then,
using some 320 grit paper, sand exposed end grain, which will tends to
stain more heavily (sanding the end grain with finer grit will fill the
pores of the end grain a bit more). Lightly wipe down the entire project
before applying a pre-stain conditioner, followed shortly thereafter by
the stain of your choice.
Another commonly used
finishing technique on maple is to apply tung oil or linseed oil after
the final sanding. These oils tend to bring out the curly or tiger
looks of the maple. Follow the oil with a coat or two of shellac. For a
more durable finish, top-coat over the shellac with a clear lacquer or polyurethane.
No comments:
Post a Comment