Surface preparation on Curly Maple

Does it make sense to carry out some surface preparation on Maple wood? Can chatoyance be improved? Find it out here.

This set of tests is aimed at understanding whether alcohol-cleaning or sanding grit have an impact on chatoyance after finishing.

A set of 12 consecutive veneer sheets (from “A” to “L”) were employed, each split into three samples (from “1” to “3”); therefore, all samples ending with “1” are just consecutive layers of the initial log and start from very similar PZC values; the same applies for samples “2” and “3”.

These three parameters were considered in all possible combinations:
1) Sanding grit (as received / 240-grit / 1500-grit)
2) Cleaning (or not) with alcohol
3) Finishing (dense shellac or boiled linseed oil (BLO))

In addition, some tests were run with spray Nitrocellulose Lacquer (NCL).

It was concluded that:
1) Alcohol cleaning is detrimental to chatoyance on Curly Maple (-0.6 PZC on average)
2) As-Received veneer surface is generally more chatoyant than sanded surface, even after finishing (+4.0 PZC on average with respect to 240-grit sanding, +2.5 PZC wrt 1500-grit sanding).
3) If sanding is required, reaching a higher grit provides better chatoyance on the finished product with a lower amount of coats (+1.5 PZC on average)

Tables below summarize all results: