# staining maple



## wood138 (Feb 26, 2008)

Hi everyone need some help on staining maple when I try to stain it I aways get to light of a color do I have to keep putting on the stain till
I get the right color. I use Minwax oil base.Is there some way to get a deep color with only a few coats how about Minwax gel coat.Want a color like a golden pine or honey maple. Thank you Joe


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## joesdad (Nov 1, 2007)

Maple is one of the most difficult to penetrate. It's not you, it's the wood. Try not to sand up with too high a grit or you'll close up what little open grain there already is on the face of maple.

Maybe try dyes if the oil stain isn't working, also I've found a sponge brush will lay a heavier coat down vs. a rag which is simuetaneously laying it down and wiping it off. The sponge brush however is better for narrow frame parts, it's hard to control overlapping lines with a sponge brush on large surfaces.

Years ago I looked into maple floors in the office in my house. The display samples in the showroom were stained a beautiful weathered barn gray, but when I asked how much they cost I almost fell over. The guy said they're so expensive because of how tedious the process was to get maple to go that dark and rich.


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## wood138 (Feb 26, 2008)

Thanks for your help I am going to go with a clear coat less problems
thanks Joe


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## toddj99 (Jan 1, 2008)

i use transtint dye on curly maple and have played with it on regular maple. it penetrates real well and is very easy to use. the curly maple was all dyed a mahogany brown. with transtint, you can mix it as per instructions, test it then if it isn't dark enough, remix it a little stronger.


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## Denny J (Nov 16, 2007)

Todd is correct, you will gt the best results on Maple with a dye stain. If you use an oil stain,even a gel, you will wipe the color into the pores and that causes blotchyness. The best way to get an even color is to use a spray stain so that the color stays on top of the wood and doesn't flood the pores.

The best way to get a very dark color that I have found is to first use a toner to even out the color of the wood and then spray multiple thin coats of the dark stain until you get to the right color as opposed to trying to flood the stain on in one coat.


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## Underwoodfloors (Apr 26, 2008)

They make a great point indeed, Altho I do wood flooring for a living,sand and finish. When I am trying to avoid the Blochyness, I will wipe on a sealer and wipe it right off, then stain it. This for my wood floors on maple tends to depleat allot of the blochyness of maple. Paple is a verry hard wood to stain.


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## Bert (Feb 23, 2012)

I am doing stair railings and knewell posts. I put on a pre conditioner then stained with minwax.Llooks terrible. Very blotchy.
How do I proceed from here? Can I sand down with 180 grit and reapply the stain? Very confusing when I read all the different techniques but this is now after the fact.


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## harry nuckle (Feb 23, 2012)

Instead of wood conditioner try sanding sealer thinned about 5-1 then dye stains.. minwax is not good for difficult woods, i.e. maple, cherry, poplar, etc


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## Bert (Feb 23, 2012)

Thanks but I already used the preconditioner and stained. How do I get this off or do I just use the sanding sealer over what is already done?


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## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

joesdad said:


> Maple is one of the most difficult to penetrate. It's not you, it's the wood. Try not to sand up with too high a grit or you'll close up what little open grain there already is on the face of maple.


That would explain my failed attempted at dyeing a maple burl pen.:laughing:


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## harry nuckle (Feb 23, 2012)

At this point unfortunately you are going to have to get the stain out in order to get rid of the blotchiness which will. Be very difficult. Mineral spirit wash and sanding. You can do the sealer over the stain and then put try to put enough color on to hide it. When you apply stain over sanding sealer you are essentially putting on a glaze which is why it wont get blotchy, because you are sealing the pores in the wood so stain wont soak in as much.good luck!


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## harry nuckle (Feb 23, 2012)

Your other option might be a tinted lacquer to darken the color. Stinky but usually effective


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## chemmy (Dec 13, 2011)

Maple can be stained as black as coal, it's not a matter of it being to hard, it's a matter of using colorants that will penetrate the wood [meaning ones with the correct clear vehicle/thinner/solvent/ etc., use water base dye stains and forget the minwax stuff!!:yes:


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

There are a few fixes for where you're at. If you plan to mist/overspray a colorized finish to tone in or deepen the color, don't use lacquer if you have an oil base film finish on, like varnish or polyurethane. 

Blotchiness is a combination of several conditions. There are light areas, and dark areas. There are soft areas and hard areas. There isn't (at least I haven't found) a single application that turns the light into dark...dark into light...soft into hard, and hard into soft. Whatever is applied does it's thing across the board...so to speak. It limits the penetration of a coloring agent.

It takes experimenting with samples which method and media is used to achieve the results you're after. When you get close, take the sample to the final finish whatever that will be so it will be evident what the finished appearance will look like.










 







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