I spent $150 on a fancy hardwood just to completely mess up the grain match

Bought a gorgeous piece of figured maple for a jewelry box lid and didn't think about grain direction until after I cut it - now it looks like a patchwork quilt of mismatched stripes. Anyone else ever blow a budget on material they ruined in ten minutes flat?

2 comments

2 Comments

schmidt.grant1mo ago

Oh man, that stings lol. Here is something nobody thinks about - you could flip the whole thing into a feature instead of a mistake. Get some black or dark brown dye and do an "ebony" finish on that mismatched maple. The grain contrast actually looks killer when it is all dark and uniform, and you don't have to worry about matching anything. I did that once with a walnut offcut that had terrible sapwood and it came out looking like a fancy store bought piece. Just make sure to sand it really smooth first or the dye will blotch up on you.

-1

evanfox1mo ago

@schmidt.grant Did you sand up to 220 before dying or go higher to avoid blotching?