maple

lugo35 · 24 Dec 2008

hi all. i am looking to make some chairs. would like them in sycamore but money being tight, i am looking at maple as i have a load of it.
my question is how to stop or minimise the yellowing. used it before with a 2 part spray finish and in time went very yellow. is this unavoidable??

thanks and merry christmas

Derek Willis. · 25 Dec 2008

I do think it is nearly impossible to stop the colour change, but try Rustins P.C. that wil help a lot.
Good luck.
Derek.

BradNaylor · 26 Dec 2008

Sycamore is a variety of maple, and looks very similar.

Preventing yellowing is not easy. The is a natural tendency for all timbers to 'mellow' on exposure to light and no finish is ever going to prevent this. Maple does yellow slightly anyway.

Certain finishes however, do make the problem worse because they develop a yellow cast themselves over time. Acid catalyst and pre-cat lacquers are among the worst offenders, along with polyurethene.

Water-bourne finishes have the least impact on the colour of timbers, and do not themselves yellow.

I have no experience of Rustin's Plastic Coating; I had always assumed it simply to be their brand of AC lacquer. However, if it really doesn't yellow as they claim I must give it a try.

Cheers
Dan

JonnyD · 26 Dec 2008

You can put on a surface coat of waterborne sealer lacquer to preserve as much of the whiteness of the timber as possible. If you leave this overnight to dry you can then finish with A/C lacquer without it going yellow. I was told this by the morrells woodfinishes rep so there shouldnt be any problems with cross contamination. I have tried it and it does work.

jon

BradNaylor · 26 Dec 2008

JonnyD":3i6leguv said:
You can put on a surface coat of waterborne sealer lacquer to preserve as much of the whiteness of the timber as possible. If you leave this overnight to dry you can then finish with A/C lacquer without it going yellow. I was told this by the morrells woodfinishes rep so there shouldnt be any problems with cross contamination. I have tried it and it does work.

jon

Interesting. I'll give that a try.

I'm glad you get useful advice from your Morrells rep. Mine just sticks his head round the door once a year and asks 'Everything alright?'

Nice bloke though...

Dan