I bought a slice of Bird's Eye maple as a plaque to mount a weather instrument to hang on the wall. The slice has a birds eye maple pattern on the face but it also has a beautiful bark pattern around the edge perimeter. (lots of little points).
I would like to keep if fairly natural. Unfortunately I don't have a scrap to practice with.
I'm thinking of linseed oil, tung oil or danish oil. I'm not concerned about the face but how would these finishes do on the bark section?
Any other suggestions?
Any oil will be fine. Thin the Lin or Tung with turpentine or mineral spirts (as suggested by the manufacturer). Oil won't do much on Maple. It's pretty hard wood. You might try shellac. You can thin it a lot with alcohol and put on vert thin coats and build to the luster you want.
Anyth> I bought a slice of Bird's Eye maple as a plaque to mount a weather
My experience is that maple just doesn't take oil well, even if you cut it to 2/3 with turps.
Might want to try dewaxed shellac cut to 1/2 lb.
Will allow you to control the final surface rather well.
After a couple weeks, apply some bees wax cut with turps, (Equal parts) then rub out.
Works for me, YMMV.
Lew
Is that the back of Jack Forst ???
My experience is that curly maple, which should finish similar to birds eye maple, can look quite nice with a finish of equal parts of turpentine, oil, and varnish. Some examples can be seen on my web page:
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