Maple is one of the most difficult woods to achieve a dark, uniform stain color on because it is a dense, closed grain wood and often absorbs stain very unevenly.
First, you should sand the wood to even it out and treat it with a wood conditioner or sealer. Once the wood is prepared, you can apply the stain evenly across the wood using a paintbrush. Be sure to test the stain on a piece of scrap wood before beginning.
Tight grain wood, such as hard and soft maple, and cherry, will often become blotchy when stain is applied. Open grained wood, such as oak or ash, often stain unevenly between the different textures of the wood grain, especially when trying to achieve deep colors.
For those of you who don't know, maple is a tricky wood to stain. It tend to absorb stain unevenly which leads to a blotchy look. By pre-sealing the wood with shellac, you can even out the color absorption.
Ideally, your stain will preserve the rich color of your maple cabinets, not hide it. But maple is tricky–it can dry blotchy and fade over time with poor treatment or low-quality stains. That is why we'd recommend using a pre-stain conditioner, like Minwax, to first prepare your maple for staining.
Gel-based stains are a great way to achieve a dark maple stain with your workpiece, this is because gel-based stains effectively cause a “chemical burn” on the surface of the wood which is not only potent but creates a nice uniform effect.
Because of its consistency, maple also does not absorb stain as well as oak. Physical Characteristics: The light, natural finish makes hard maple a leading choice for contemporary spaces when it comes to furniture and hardwood flooring.
Maple Finishing Tips
Want to retain maple's light look? Coat it with a clear, water-based finish. Be sure to damp-sponge the wood to lift the grain, then sand, both before and between coats. Give maple an aged look with dye and an oil/varnish mix.
Blotchiness is caused by irregular pores, most often found in maple, pine, alder, aspen, poplar and birch, that absorb stain unevenly. The best way to reduce blotchiness is to apply a coat of Minwax® Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner after your final sanding, but before you apply your Minwax® stain.
Maple, by its density and grain structure, does not like to "take" stain the way oak soaks it up. An oil-based wiping stain just isn't the right product for you to use -- given your goals. It is a fine product, but not the one you want here. A water soluble dye product would be much better for you.
First, what causes blotchy stain? Blotchy stain often occurs because wood unevenly absorbs stain, causing some areas to be darker than others. Blotchy stain is more likely to happen on soft woods such as pine. Stain rarely turns out blotchy on hard wood like oak.
Soft maple will blotch with stain, more than hard maple. It is easier to shoot toner over either maple than to stain it. From contributor G: Soft maple will actually absorb stain, thus making it easier to get deep colors.
Generally speaking, the more porous a wood is, the better it will take stain. Oak, for example, has very large pores so it will stain quite easily. Cedar is also well known for its ability to take stain. Other woods that are commonly used with stain include ash and chestnut.
Like cherry, maple will darken over time, though far less dramatically. Maple starts off very light and bright, with a few pink and grey tones. Over time, it will age to a warm golden honey color.
The partial decay, called spalting, gives the wood dark contrasting lines and streaks where fungus has begun to attack the wood. If the wood has been rescued from the spalting at the right time, the lumber should still be sound and usable, with little to no soft spots or rotten wood.
We do not recommend pre-sealing Maple with a conditioner because it closes up the grain of the wood even more, further preventing color adherence. In the future, just use our water-based stains or gel stains on their own. Do not use liquid oil-based stains on Maple because they will blotch.
Streaks are most likely to form when the stain pools or drips and then dries too quickly to be suitably wiped up. In oil-based stains, which can be thinned and cleaned with mineral distillates, this problem was much less common.
Using most gel stains, you can darken wood furniture, or stay the same color, without sanding off the old stain. But, I usually use General Finishes Gel Stain because the finish always looks beautiful. Don't forget to Save or Share these steps for how to stain wood without sanding.
Clear and transparent stains need a touchup every year or two. Semi-transparent last 2 to 3 years. Semi-solid stains are good for 2 to 4 years of protection. Solid stains on decks may protect up to 5 to 7 years.
Oak is generally slightly more expensive than Maple, the cost of the floored depends on the width and length of the floorboards, the grade of the lumber and several other factors.
Yellow birch finished to look like maple B. Maple Chosen for its lighter color, the yellow birch was almost a perfect look-alike for sugar maple even before staining with a highly diluted Dark Golden Oak aniline dye and finishing with lacquer.