19
TIL staining maple with gel stain is basically asking for trouble
I was in my shop last Tuesday working on a customer's hutch out of hard maple. Read online that gel stain would work fine on maple without blotching. Figured hey, it's gel, it's thick, what could go wrong? Well, three coats later it looked like a drunk toddler fingerpainted all over it. Blotches everywhere, super uneven. Had to sand it all back down and use a dye stain instead. Lesson learned - maple just hates thick stain, period. Any of you guys found a gel stain that actually plays nice with maple or should I just give up on that idea?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
faith_thomas1mo agoMost Upvoted
Dye stain saved my maple project too, that blotchiness drove me nuts.
9
taylorc401mo ago
Yeah I fought the same battle with gel stain on a walnut desk once. Never again. What finally worked for me was switching to a dye stain with a sanding sealer first. I use Transtint dye mixed into denatured alcohol, that stuff soaks in even and you can layer it up without any blotching. Then I just topcoat with Arm-R-Seal and it comes out glassy smooth.
6