Quilted Maple - How to finish

Well, thanks to everyone who has offered up some advice on how to do this. I spent the last two days mixing dye (I have technicolor fingers) sanding, and labeling. After all that I think I found a dirt simple way to achieve the look I wanted.

From the start I did not want to have too dramatics a look. Also, the quilting in my maple was not so pronounced that it would support it. I just wanted to get the 3D effect as the wood moved through the light.

Contrary to much of what I'd written and available on line, I found one video from a woodworking magazine that encouraged sanding to 320 prior to applying dye. His reasons seemed sound so I tried it. Bingo! The blotching nearly disappeared. Now to figure out the fastest, easiest application process.

What I did was to take a small amount of dewaxed shellac (about 2 oz.) and add the dye directly to it (3 drops of blood red and 6 drops of honey amber). The combined action of the shellac enhancing the grain and the dye soaking into the soft wood just enough (having sanded to 320) gave me just the subdued look I was going for. No raised grain, no sanding back, just 2 coats of shellac and finish up with satin lacquer. May not be as dramatic as those guitars, but it was what I was looking for. Its a bit more pronounced than the picture shows.
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I have seen it done both ways

Also, I am not one to always follow convention.

I think I am going to retract this.

It has been a couple or years since I did this, and Vaughn I think you are correct and I am wrong.

Thinking about it more, I think I may have done the black FIRST, sanded it almost away - then the red on top of the black.

Not to say that I still violate convention from time to time.
 
Looks good.

I think on the figured stuff its more about the finish than the coloring. I like the the guitar finishes, so I was playing with the colors.

I like the plain maple quilt also, as well as the yellowing from the poly finish.

View attachment Transtint Calculator.xlsx

I am attaching the Excel file with the mix ratios I use. I am pretty sure I based the ratios on transtint recommendations.

If you cannot open it, I will post it a different way.

I know I show colors, but, the browns are colors as well.
 
Looks good, Rennie. Sounds like the trick was to go finer with the initial sanding. That makes sense, considering you're using relatively soft maple. When I first started playing around with dyes, I sanded one or two turned pieces of hard maple to 400 or 600 grit before sanding. The dye barely penetrated in some places, and didn't penetrate at all in others.
 
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