Favorite maple finish?

[Fast14riot]

What's your favorite stock finish for figured maple? I've got a new project stock coming that needs some serious mods, so a refinish is in order.

 

[Sniper338]

Clear coat

 

[mikeeg02]

I like the way spar varnish yellows it. I have a loaner stock that is done in maple/walnut and I get a lot of questions and compliments on the wood. And I shake my head and think to myself "that's the rental stock, not my pride and joy!" Lol

 

[CharlieNC]

A nice maple stock is cool!

 

[Preacher]

Auto clear looks great on Maple, Arrow wood oil on Walnut...

 

[dolek]

Tru-Oil will give a little amber to it ,great stuff and easy to refresh with a new coat through the years if need be.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

It's been too long for me to remember for sure what I used on this but I remember specifically very lightly tinting a sealer, probably tung and the top coats are likely Permalin. It turned out nice and really highlighted the figure. Lighting and angles changed it's character quite a bit. It would show figure amazingly at angles. Striking piece of maple!

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Maple is a love hate kinda thing. When it looks like that, I love it.

 

[SSL]

It's all a matter of preference. I don't care for "blonde" stocks. No argument with those that do. Taste do differ.
Back in the early '70s I built several Hawken style muzzleloaders. All had what were called "curly maple" stocks...what many today call "fiddleback ". I always used Birchwood Casey water-soluble walnut stain followed by many coats of hand-rubbed Tru Oil. This created a dark grain contrast thst had a lot of depth. Unfortunately I have no remaining pictures. The maple I used was so dense, regular stains wouldn't penetrate.
The same process was used later to refinish a friend's Mauser-based .280 Remington. It was so pale that the beautiful grain pattern was hidden. Turned out great.
This XP is "quilted" maple finished using the above process.

 

[Fast14riot]

I was thinking of going very traditional and using Aqua Fortis. I've used tru-oil on other stocks, I like it, but haven't used it on maple. It turned out very nice on a mahogany stock I did, though. I'll assess the figure and mods needed once I get the stock. I think I'm going to do some cutting on it, so I'll save a few scraps to test various finishes too.

 

[dolek]

I was thinking of going very traditional and using Aqua Fortis. I've used tru-oil on other stocks, I like it, but haven't used it on maple. It turned out very nice on a mahogany stock I did, though. I'll assess the figure and mods needed once I get the stock. I think I'm going to do some cutting on it, so I'll save a few scraps to test various finishes too.

That's a good call,I had great results when I used Aqua Fortis on knife scales...really gave some nice contrast to those small pieces of maple.

 

[zeke06]

This is one one I finished with pro custom oil. It turned out pretty good but I wasn’t 100% happy with it. The lighter color of maple really shows any imperfections. Next one I might play with a tung oil for a sealer and to add some color and finish with a clear coat...... or something along those lines.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I like maple very shiny

 

[Puzzaz01]

View attachment 1087715 Clear coat

A1 First class, really nice!

Darrin

 

[Travelor]

When I was making muzzle loading rifles we used fuming ammonia. After using this I would usually use Tru-Oil. It really caused the maple stocks to bring the figure out.

 

[Fast14riot]

When I was making muzzle loading rifles we used fuming ammonia. After using this I would usually use Tru-Oil. It really caused the maple stocks to bring the figure out.

Did you use a tea or other introduced tannic acid solution first? Maple is really low in tannin to get much color change with ammonia alone.

 

[Cigarcop]

 

[mikeeg02]

I hate to see what one of your stocks looks like when you get good at it. haha just kidding, beautiful stock sir.

 

[Cigarcop]

I hate to see what one of your stocks looks like when you get good at it. haha just kidding, beautiful stock sir.

Lol....... my personal stocks look like crap because, well I’m hard on them and don’t baby them.

 

[Fast14riot]

Is that rattle can poly?! Lol!

Great looking stock. Do anything to bring out the contrast in the grain or just got a good slab of maple?