Comments on: Hard Maple

By: cheeseburger

cheeseburger — Sat, 17 Dec 2022 21:02:44 +0000

In reply to ExRxIT. Truly beautiful. I like the headstock shape too.

By: ExRxIT

ExRxIT — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 12:34:31 +0000

Birdseye maple guitar neck finished with ZPoxy and EnduroVar. Cutting tools chipped and tore this wood, but rasps, scrapers and abrasives worked great. Steve Wall Lumber in Mayodan, NC had a 7 bf plank for $10/bf. Can’t wait to make more guitar parts with this beautiful wood.

By: John

John — Fri, 08 May 2020 19:54:08 +0000

In reply to Pablo Li. The tropical woods are also considerably more brittle as well though. Hard Maple is very strong in tension and will bend and bow with ease without breaking.

By: Helena Orstem

Helena Orstem — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 21:10:13 +0000

make your own shellac with lac flakes and alcohol….best looking finish by far and easy to repair….sanding is for amateurs, cabinet scrapers are the way to go.

By: Sherry Bunch

Sherry Bunch — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 17:42:13 +0000

I have a Maple Burl flute made by Brent Haines of Woodsounds. It is the most beautiful looking and sounding thing.

By: Devin

Devin — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 02:18:22 +0000

No drum stick comments that makes me sad

By: Stan Banfield

Stan Banfield — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 13:01:19 +0000

Sugar Maple carved staff

By: Stan Banfield

Stan Banfield — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 13:00:34 +0000

Sugar Maple is perfect wood for your staff. They make baseball bats out of it.
You could also try wood burning for effect.

By: Lu

Lu — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 23:06:15 +0000

I want to make a decorative staff of black wood and white wood that can be carved and fashioned. Not merely cut. Of course, whatever woods I use must be worked into the shape of a staff. I’d also like to incorporate stone inlays and designs via a Dremel tool. Finally, I’ll want to coat the staff with polyurethane so that it stands up to knocks, bumps, hand oil, and dirt as it will be occasionally used. Are mpingo and hard maple suitable for such a staff?

By: Darin Kel J

Darin Kel J — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 04:35:00 +0000

In reply to Pablo Li. That's because you have Cocobolo, Verawood, Lignum Vitae, etc. down there

By: Randall Selinger

Randall Selinger — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 03:24:00 +0000

make your own shellac with lac flakes and alcohol….best looking finish by far and easy to repair….sanding is for amateurs, cabinet scrapers are the way to go.

By: Pablo Li

Pablo Li — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 16:04:00 +0000

“hard” maple, the concept of wood hardness here in south america is so different, quebracho wood is tree+ times harder than this “hard” maple.

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 05:20:00 +0000

In reply to Ned Milburn. Hi Ned, I've worked with a hardwax oil that is VOC-free, only takes 1 coat, has tons of colors, and only cures/dries to wood fibers. It's called Rubio Monocoat. Looks pretty expensive off the bat but it only takes one coat and has a great spread rate. It's easy to spot repair too which is really nice. Anyways, check it out.

By: Ned Milburn

Ned Milburn — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:38:07 +0000

Hi Jean,

I don’t know if you’ll read this response, but just in case…

I am a guitar builder and have refinished guitar tops before. I also need to refinish a dining room table fairly soon. Rather than sanding which is messy (dusty – with finish dust that is likely more toxic to lungs than just wood dust), my tool of choice is a rectangular hand scraper (aka: cabinet scraper – Lee Valley carries sets of these). Skilled use of this tool means you can scrape once and begin to refinish, compared to sanding where you’d have to use a random orbit power sander (or similar) and start at rough paper down to fine paper, a time consuming process and very dusty since it sends so much dust airborne. Scraping doesn’t send much dust airborne at all.

There are many fine commercial finishes, including newer water-based poly-urethene finishes, that have great chemical AND water resistance once cured. Oil based finishes, while more difficult to clean up and more toxic to work with (require powerful solvents for clean-up), may offer better resistance for your application. Drying will take a day to a week or more, full curing will take several months.

It is likely best if you contact a local finishing supply shop and/or a local woodworker to get some more advice.

Good luck!

– Ned.

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 22:31:52 +0000

I purchased a hard rock maple dining room talbe about 20 years ago. It is time to refinish the table top. Any tips on how to do this & what products to use? Any help would be appreciated. thanks in advance.

Jean