Another Maple question.

Mark, I just went through this. I did the same thing but was told to put down a thinned layer of oil varnish before the water based stuff. Make sure it cures before applying the water based varathane. It worked for me.

-- Rob, Kalamazoo, MI

I used a wipe on/off conditioner on some maple with a light brown dye with alcohol. It turned out great. I think the conditioner will be a big help to prevent the blotching.

-- Fladdy

This is one of the reasons I use stain as rarely as possible. If I want walnut look, why not walnut wood? Maple is a beautiful wood finished natural. When I was doing our kitchen cabinets out of oak (a random mix of red and white, as 95% of it was recycled wood), the granite installer asked, “what stain?” “None,” I answered. His jaw dropped. It seems to be an automatic response nowadays to want to color wood something other than what it is. Now my dad, he didn’t have a lot of money and used mostly ponderosa pine. He stained everything, mostly walnut. And what did it look like? Walnut stained pine. And blotchy, as you might expect. Eventually he started using poplar, and I admit it isn’t a very pretty greenish yellow. But most people paint it, I suspect.

I guess pretty soon we’ll be seeing inquiries about how to bleach walnut to make it look more like pine.

Sorry if this seemed to turn into a rant. I just am not a fan of stain, as you can probably tell.

You could use a conditioner, or you could use a 1/2 lbs cut shellac sealer. The shellac will probably do a better job of preventing blotching. It’s well worth the time and effort to use a dye instead of an oil stain on maple if you are headed to walnut on maple. Seal between color and topcoat.

Skip all the hooplah with stains. Use zinsser sealcoat tinted with transtint dyes (dark vintage maple looks great on maple), then coat with your water borne clear. No muss, entire finishing schedule done in 1 or 2 days instead of weeks.

-- He who dies with the most tools... dies with the emptiest wallet.

maple does note take stain…but you can dye to any color….charles does sell a good conditioner

Thanks for all the suggestions gents. Lots to choose from.

-- Mark