How to finish this "ruined" maple?

Bartley Gel stains have always been easy to apply for me. I do not own spray equipment nor do I have a “room” to actual spray in if I did have it. So I go with Bartleys. I would suggest you go to Homestead finishing’s website and read some of Jeff’s articles that are reprinted here: http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/

-- jstegall

Actually, what you have there is called ambrosia maple, because the insect usually responsible for that kind of streaking is the ambrosia beetle.

Below is a project made from ambrosia maple:

And here is a sample of spalted maple. Spalting is really the beginning stages of rot.

As for finish, by all means experiment with the dyes and stains if you like. Just keep in mind that maple is notorious for looking splotchy when you try to color it, so experiment with decent sized scraps to get a good idea of what you will see in the finished project. For a top coat, I would suggest oil-based wipe-on poly. It comes in gloss or satin, but I would suggest using gloss, because you can always rub it out to the degree of sheen you are trying to attain.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I question filling the holes with black filler???

Won’t this draw your eye away from the natural beauty?

-- Father of two sons. Both Eagle Scouts.

“Ruined” ? That is some nice looking ambrosia maple. You will ruin it by doing anything other than a clear coat finish in my opinion.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

unless you need the box to hold something that could fall out of the holes (not sure what could be that small), I wouldn’t bother to fill them. They won’t affect the structure. Also, I wouldn’t try and pop the grain. Odds are you will take away from those great streaks.

Here is a video that Marc Spagnolo has posted on popping maple grain, if you want to take a look at it.

You have some gorgeous wood to work with. Ambrosia maple has some beautiful coloration to the wood. Maple is ordinarily pretty bland as far as graining and coloration goes so the effects of the fungus introduced by the ambrosia beetle and, bacterial infection with spalting, enhance the visual appeal of the wood.

If you want to fill in the holes with epoxy that will work. Another option would be to inlay dutchman or butterfly patches. In a contrasting wood such as walnut these add visual interest to the project or they can be in the same wood for a more muted effect. Here is a workbench that has been posted showing the look that a dutchman patch gives.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.