Help!! I need coloring advice

[JPOL007]

I just got a piece of highly flamed Ambrosia Maple from StewMac. It is one piece 15" x 22" x 1 3/4" and weighs 14 pounds. This wood is extremely flamed and I want to highlight all of that figured beauty. My problem is what coloring will bring out the flaming without detracting from the ambrosia staining effect. Does anybody know what colors will accent or complement the ambrosia? I’m going to end up having two guitars with oil rubbed finishes and want some color for whatever this piece of wood becomes. Thanks in advance guy for any help you can give.

 

[Rick]

That sounds like a great piece of wood.  (Can't see a pic on my office computer).  So you have the fungus trails left behind by Amborsia Beetles on top of flaming ... wow.  (The bugs are lapping up that sweet maple sap and their salva leaves behind fungas that travels up and down with the sap) YOu can see a similar thing in korina, which I really love, though I have no idea what those african bugs are doing or if it has anything to do with sap.  Based on Korina, I like red, amber or clear.  But that's just me, I'm sure someone else here will say yellow, or something different.

 

[JPOL007]

That sounds like a great piece of wood.  (Can't see a pic on my office computer).  So you have the fungus trails left behind by Amborsia Beetles on top of flaming ... wow.  (The bugs are lapping up that sweet maple sap and their salva leaves behind fungas that travels up and down with the sap) YOu can see a similar thing in korina, which I really love, though I have no idea what those african bugs are doing or if it has anything to do with sap.  Based on Korina, I like red, amber or clear.  But that's just me, I'm sure someone else here will say yellow, or something different.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try to get a photo of the wood or photos it is a huge hunk of lumber.

 

[JPOL007]

Photo of the maple.

 

[ragamuffin]

Beautiful hunk of wood! If it was me I would just go with clear or maybe an amber/light brown.

 

[JPOL007]

Beautiful hunk of wood! If it was me I would just go with clear or maybe an amber/light brown.

Thanks, I'm kind of thinking about the colors in a Tiger's eye burst now. Maybe use the browns to darken the flame and the yellow or amber for highlights :icon_scratch:

 

[Rick]

That's gorgeous.

 

[Cagey]

That is a nice piece. Maple usually doesn't darken very much from finishing, unlike woods with a high tannin content like Mahogany, Cherry or Walnut. But before you start adding color you can't get rid of easily, try wiping the raw wood with some naphtha or alcohol first. It'll evaporate fairly quickly without affecting the wood at all, but for a  minute or two you can see what it would look like with just clearcoat.  On a sweet piece like that, you may be happy without adding any color at all.

But, to answer your original question, I like transparent reds over wood grains like that, but that's just me. I've seen some fantastic transparent greens and blues as well. Had a Levinson Blade about 100 years ago with a trans blue over Swamp Ash w/ black hardware, etc. that was just sexy as can be. Probably my favorite guitar of all time - learned to play a ton of Satriani's stuff on it. Lost it to misadventure, though :sad1:

 

[JPOL007]

That is a nice piece. Maple usually doesn't darken very much from finishing, unlike woods with a high tannin content like Mahogany, Cherry or Walnut. But before you start adding color you can't get rid of easily, try wiping the raw wood with some naphtha or alcohol first. It'll evaporate fairly quickly without affecting the wood at all, but for a  minute or two you can see what it would look like with just clearcoat.  On a sweet piece like that, you may be happy without adding any color at all.

But, to answer your original question, I like transparent reds over wood grains like that, but that's just me. I've seen some fantastic transparent greens and blues as well. Had a Levinson Blade about 100 years ago with a trans blue over Swamp Ash w/ black hardware, etc. that was just sexy as can be. Probably my favorite guitar of all time - learned to play a ton of Satriani's stuff on it. Lost it to misadventure, though :sad1:

Thanks, I saw a video on YouTube about finishing figured maple last night. The guy used danish oil to pop the grain and it worked very well. This looks like my best option for keeping the streaks from changing color and highlighting the flame. Thanks everybody for helping ccasion14:

 

[wildbill]

I'm a TruOil guy but same concept as the Danish Oil. They both highlight the grain and add a very subtle darkening as well. It you are persistent; OK, very persistent, you can take the TruOil to any level of gloss you care to attain. Many threads on here about TO finishing. Do test panels on a scrap of the same wood to see where you are going and whether you will like it.

Beautiful piece of wood, best of luck.

 

[JPOL007]

I'm a TruOil guy but same concept as the Danish Oil. They both highlight the grain and add a very subtle darkening as well. It you are persistent; OK, very persistent, you can take the TruOil to any level of gloss you care to attain. Many threads on here about TO finishing. Do test panels on a scrap of the same wood to see where you are going and whether you will like it.

Beautiful piece of wood, best of luck.

Thanks, I was thinking of using dewaxed shellac to seal the oil finish; then maybe using truoil as a top coat. If not truoil then wipe on poly.

 

[wildbill]

I think you can go right over the danish oil with TruOil but you would want to test that theory on a sample as I have not done it myself. No use adding the shellac if not needed IMO. It you want to highly polish the TO, build many thin coats then let it dry for a long time, month preferably then very lightly sand starting at 2000 grit. I sand to 4000 and then take it to the buffer for a gentle polish or you can hand buff.

 

[swarfrat]

I wasn't sure what " ambrosia staining" looked like.  Did you mean "Ambrosia Strain"? Don't look that up at work if you have any kind of job you had to pee to get.

 

[JPOL007]

I wasn't sure what " ambrosia staining" looked like.  Did you mean "Ambrosia Strain"? Don't look that up at work if you have any kind of job you had to pee to get.

:laughing11:Used my phone to look it up. Yup we have random cup filling around here. Tats, piercings, or long hair gets you more cups to fill. I used to have all three but i'm down to just having the tats :doh:

 

[swarfrat]

My brothers and I used to joke about having a large electromagnet you had to walk past on your way to the interview.
*Yes, I know most piercings aren't actually magnetic. It's just a joke.