I have my blanket chest about half done. I had enough spalted maple for the frame but not enough to make the top. I was thinking about getting enough curley maple for the top. I have never used spalted wood. It looks like it would soak up more stain than the curley maple top would, so I need some advice. Do I use oil base stain, water base or wax? I do not want it very dark, so the spalted wood will show up. Any ideas on this one? Barry

I can't say that I've ever finished newly milled spalted maple before but here's my take on it.

If it's extremely spalted in areas I'd consider using some sort of penetrating glue or finish to harden the wood up prior to finishing. If you want to stain it and pop the grain then a waterbase stain may be the best bet. Followed with a film style finish such as shellac or lacquer. I've heard of people using thin CA glue and epoxy resins to stabilize the wood prior to finishing.

As always it just depends on the look you're after. You have to be careful of the softer areas of the wood taking the applied color or finish differently and decide if you want to enhance that or minimize it and go from there. Keep in mind that something like an oil finish would be hard to reverse if you didn't like it so be sure to do plenty of testing on any scraps before committing yourself to something.

Curly maple looks great with a light analine dye applied and a very thin seal coat followed up with a darker dye. Then sand back down leaving the darker dye in the grain only to pop it.

Here's a cool site by a guy that sells guitars with spalted maple tops that may give you some ideas:

http://www.edroman.com/customshop/wood/spalted.htm

The wood is pretty solid to be as spalted as it is. But you can tell that some places will be like a sponge. I think you are correct that I need to do a few samples before I commit. Sure would like for it to turn out looking a little like the finish on the guitars of the site you mentioned, they look great. I have made a couple of things out of maple and never ended up satisfied with the finish. I guess if I screw it up I can always paint it blue. I appreciate the help and if it turns out I will post a pics. Barry

You really should consider adding some sort of penetrating hardner to the soft areas prior to finishing. Otherwise those areas will just suck up whatever you put on them and you'll have an uneven finish.

http://www.minwax.com/products/wood_mai ... dener.html

Go with the plan on samples. That's something that everyone should always do and even plan for during the build. Mill and sand an extra cutoff just for testing for the finishing process. Sometimes I wish the antiques that I work on could come with an extra board or two!! That way you figure out a process prior to touching the actual piece of furniture so when you do get around to it you have a good idea of how to approach it. It just takes a lot of the guesswork and stress out of it.

Finishing should be enjoyable. It's a chance to really see your project reach it's full potential.