Opinion on maple stock

[yellowhammer]

"You never know what you're going to get with iron nitrate / AF...". Heard that many times. First time I got an unusual outcome. I liked the way the right side of the stock turned out:

But the cheek side! Wow what a confused grain pattern - totally different from the other side. Extreme "chatoyance" affect - see the circled areas. Looks like a dark splotch, but rotate your viewing angle and it turns into a blond streak, halfway in between it has 3d effect:

Cloudy day, so effect is more subdued. Would be interested in opinions on this piece of wood.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Typical effect of AF showing off the figure. That 3D effect is seldom achieved by common stain, the darkness is controlled by how and how much you apply it. Nice wood.

 

[deerstalkert]

typical of Maple, cherry, ash etc. walnut most the time stains true.
i am working on a piece of Maple currently that if the chisel work is an indication, the grain reverses every 2 inches! with wood you takes what you gets!
many times the change up in finish is due to a slightly different amount of sanding.
long winded way of saying, that's a nice piece of wood.

 

[yellowhammer]

I lightly cut the dark spot, and it makes the light lighter and the dark darker LOL. That's enough, I'm going with it like it is.

Wife looked and saw the dark streak, then I rotated it and she saw the black turn blond, and she was like "Whut? Weird."

 

[yellowhammer]

deleted double post

 

[reddogge]

I like it myself. It's interesting. Maybe two coats of iron nitrate would have brought out the dark areas more but it looks nice as is.

 

[CuNosecap]

Wood is wood. it is going to have its own natural characteristics. I have a stock that is fully curled, except for a 6 inch section in the forearm. Nothing I can do about it, but I see it first whenever I grab that 58.

 

[SOLANCO]

I used quarter sawn sycamore for a kitchen counter. Planing and finishing brought about some very attractive chatoyance. Gave a wood counter some unusual interest.

 

[ChuckJonesWagon]

I like it. I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[stubshaft]

It is, what it is! I've had quite a few stocks that had character marks and no one ever came and tried to point them out to me.

 

[James Kibler]

That's just changes in grain direction (curl, figure). When more end grain is exposed it soaks up more stain and turns darker. I think it looks nice and you've done a very good job of sanding and finishing your stock.

 

[yellowhammer]

Tried & True Varnish applied:

 

[LonestarShootR]

Liking how that turned out. It's been mentioned already the figure and grain of the wood is what it is but with a little work you can choose to enhance or cover it with different finishes.
I have a Jack Garner built flinter that I am fixing to redo the stock on, it's light maple color doesn't do anything for me.

 

[yellowhammer]

...I have a Jack Garner built flinter that I am fixing to redo the stock on, it's light maple color doesn't do anything for me.

I've found that the Tried & True Varnish really darkens and browns maple every time I've used it. Now, I have always used Kibler's Iron Nitrate under it, never tried it on non-nitrated maple...

before; after