Curly maple staining

I have been staining figured maple for decades and I can not get the contrast between the dark and the light in the curl that a lot of builder get. I will be staining a full stock soon. Does anyone have some pointers or new ideas to try?

I have tried a variety of stains in the past and found that none equal Aqua Fortis.

View attachment 66719View attachment 66720View attachment 66721I never got good results from AF although I think it the most beautiful of stains. This is Laura mountian red walnut and birch wood cassy walnutView attachment 66719View attachment 66720
And BC walnut on its ow]View attachment 66723

Try tannic acid before staining.

Robert Kiebel said:

I have been staining figured maple for decades and I can not get the contrast between the dark and the light in the curl that a lot of builder get. I will be staining a full stock soon. Does anyone have some pointers or new ideas to try?

Click to expand...

The fellow mentioning aqua fortis may have a good clue. BTW, a recent article in one of the ML magazines, (MB or ML) details using roofing tar to make the grain pop. I'll see if I can locate the exact issue and author. I'm sure someone else will have read the same....

Aqua fortis works best (you can add a stain over the top for added depth) and as said for more contrast use Tannic acid prior to the AF. Kibler has a few videos on his youtube describing the process.

I would use ferric nitrate crystals and dissolve in water then follow same method as standard AF, seal with Chambers Traditional Oil Finish. Easy peasy...
You can do some test pieces with different ratios of water to crystals, i ended up with 4:1 for both of my highly figured maple stocks. Different ratios give different color.

FYI, this method was recommended to me by Dave Person, who's to argue with that reasoning...

Robert Kiebel said:

I have been staining figured maple for decades and I can not get the contrast between the dark and the light in the curl that a lot of builder get. I will be staining a full stock soon. Does anyone have some pointers or new ideas to try?

Click to expand...

What works for me is to use regular LMF stain or Fiebings leather dye (medium brown is my favorite for most guns) and to really scrub it back with a scotch-brite pad or even some really fine sandpaper or steel wool before finishing it with Tru-oil, Minwax Antique oil or whatever.

AF or ferric Nitrate crystals will get you the greatest contrast. After you blush it, try neutralizing it with Lye. The rub back the stock with steel wool. That will get some of the color off the light areas, but the dark areas will stay dark because the stain penetrated deeper. You can stain over the top of that with a normal stain. If you want, you can rub that back with steel wool too.

Best to experiment on your test strips first though.