Finish help for Hard Maple Cabinet Doors

[adowden]

I need to finish some hard maple doors and a face frame. I have never worked with hard maple, but I have read that dyes work better than pigments because of the tight grain. I have never used dyes. Could anyone offer any fairly simple process to dye the doors? The color the customer wants is medium like a Minwax cherry or golden pecan (but a little darker). Could you also include the company name of the dyes that you recommend? I do not have any spray equipment. Thanks for your help.

 

[DaveO]

Amy, I wish I could give you some specific advice, but alas, I have none. I would recommend that you look into the products and information provide at this site -
Homestead Finishing Products Home Page

Jeff Jewit spoke at a TWA mtg. a couple of months ago and is very knowledgeable and approachable through the forums on his site, and his product line is excellent.
Sorry I couldn't be more help, hopefully you'll get more tips when the morning crowd logs on.
Dave

 

[Travis Porter]

I have used transtint dyes some. They are available at Woodcraft. They can be used in water or alcohol. I haven't sprayed them, but I have brushed them diluted in alcohol to keep from raising the grain. The colors are fairly comparable to Minwax types and there are others available as well.

Staining maple with Minwax has turned out blotchy for me personally. You can use wood conditioner to help even it out and it does help. You might try that route on some scrap before going to the dye route.

Good luck.

 

[DavidF]

Hi Amy, you are right about the pigments and Maple, they don't really do a good job. Can't help much on the dye front as generally I don't use them, but this crowd will certainly come up with the answers for you.

 

[striker]

Amy,

I claim very little knowledge in the finish department but I've played with dyes a little. I've finished Curly soft maple with Golden amber maple dye. The process I've used is:
Raise the grain with water then sand to 320 grit.
Mix dye with water to desired strength and mop on with a rag. wipe off excess in a few minutes.
one thinned coat of BLO - let dry
two coats of blonde shellac then added glaze (for aged look)
more coats of shellac and rubbed out with #0000 stl wool & wool lube.
a coat or 2 of wax.

I would imagine the hard maple would take the dye much the same way. The dye is pretty easy stuff to work with...keep in mind everything it comes in contact with gets stained. (I'm banded from the kitchen when mixing).

Stephen

 

[cskipper]

I have never dyed wood, but for a great finish we used Petra wipe-on poly finish:
Web Store Item Detail Page

It's really nice to work with and gives a beautiful finish. We did our cabinet frames in Hickory and raised panel doors in hard maple. We were very pleased with the results. Hope this helps.