# staining maple



## chickenhelmet (May 1, 2009)

Not sure if this is the right place to put this but didn't see a staining fourm. My supplier has changed matierals and the best fit to the existing one is maple. I have been using water based produts (General Finishes) up until now. However the first few panels came out awful despite the test pieces coming out fine. I am considering moving to a gel stain with a shellac cut as a conditioner. My question is can I use a full strengh shellac, say Bullseye, as a finish/top coat? I have tried to find the answer this question here but only found gel over shellac, not shellac over gel. If I missed a fourn on this matter please be so kind as to re-direct me. Thoughts will be appreciated. Thanks!


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## rickf16 (Aug 5, 2008)

For what it's worth, I built an entertainment center, not maple but cherry, I used a gel and liquid stain mix, put a coat of Bullseye shellac, and then two coats of satin poly. I used the shellac to seal the stain. mine came out fine. Just my two.


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## GaryK (Jun 25, 2007)

Have you thought about using dye rather than stain? If there's any figure in the maple dye will bring it out better than anything.


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## stevenhsieh (Jan 8, 2010)

Yes you can put shellac on top of gel stain as long as the stain dry completely.


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## chickenhelmet (May 1, 2009)

Thanks for the quick responses fellas. Gary, Do you mean a product such as transtint or the dye stains you can buy in the can? Steve, I like that anwser! This is all very heplful as I am expanding my biz and re-brand my site so nothing's off the table.


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## stevenhsieh (Jan 8, 2010)

Dyes can be bought in liquid forms or powered.
There are dyes soulabe only to water, some in oil based, some alcohol, lacquer, some all of them.

Arti dyes are soluble only to water. They are sold in powder forms.
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/search.aspx?find=arti+dyes

Transtint dyes are soluble to lacquer, alcohol, water, oil based. They are sold in Liquid forms.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11448

Transtint is in liquid. It can be so to water, oil, l


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## chickenhelmet (May 1, 2009)

Great Steve! The Arti looks like a winner. We are definately trying to bring the figure/grain out and I've had difficulty staying consistent from batch to batch with the transtint. Seems the power would be easier to control. Thanks for the help!


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## stevenhsieh (Jan 8, 2010)

If you want to bring the figure out then you can top coat the wood with shellac. OR using boiled linseed oil or tung oil.


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## DLCW (Feb 18, 2011)

Analyne Dyes are the way to go to color maple. I would also recommend spraying it on in VERY light coats to build the color to what you want. Alcohol based dries VERY fast and it's easy to get lap makes. Water based dries slower but is still prone to lap marks. The only really good success I've had with dye is when I started spraying it on.


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## brian88 (Oct 26, 2010)

I have also sprayed stain over maple and have had some success. This project was a custom mix which was a red mahogony with black added to it so that the appearence only showed the red as you were looking directly into it. I had someone tell me once that you can add stain or a tint to the clear to get a good result with a lighter stain color over maple…anyone have any thoughts?


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## chickenhelmet (May 1, 2009)

Hey Brian, that's great looking piece. I have never sprayed before but am considering investing in a set-up, as it would save time. Any thoughts on equipment and whether or not it would help with the blochyness.

I have tried adding transtint to clear/blonde shellac. Problem is the darker you go the harder it is to get even color and was tough to replicate from batch to batch. Steven H sent a link above to Arti dye which is a power and might be easier to replicate. I'll try that, among other things till we get it right.

Here's a link to my products to give an idea of what I'm trying to do. Thanks for posting.
http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/hstrial-ColoradoRecor/-strse-Crates/Categories.bok


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