Thank you everyone for your kind remarks regarding my new bows. For those of you interested I'd like to share some info on my wood and stain selections. Last summer when I was thinking about wood for the risers and limb veneers I learned that most woods selected for bows are done so for their natural wood grains and wood color that are finished under clear coats of finish. I looked on the internet for examples of beautiful wood bows and furniture to help me make decisions on wood selection. That's when I found the photo of the violin with stained quilted maple veneer. Maple is not normally used for bow risers and exposed limb veneers because it is REALLY plain looking in it's natural state. But it was obvious from the photo of the violin that maple can be transformed into something beautiful by staining it. I also found many examples of high end custom made guitars with quilted maple veneers that were really appealing to me.
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I called and emailed several of the guitar manufacturers and one from USA and one from New Zealand were willing to talk to me. They kindly shared their stain formulas and staining procedures with me. It turns out that both stain formulas were nearly identical. They gave me the stain manufacturer's contact info and the names of the 2 stains they each used. They used a gold color stain as the base color for the maple and a follow-up darker stain that would bring out the wood grain. They gave me their recipes with the number of drops (from an eye dropper) of concentrated stains that are diluted in denatured alcohol, number of stain applications of each color and the drying time between stain applications. I ordered the stains and then turned my attention to the maple.
There are many varieties of maple and their wood grain varies greatly among them. The violin and most guitars are made with Big Leaf Pacific Maple saw cut in a direction that makes the grain look "quilted". I looked on the internet and bought some 1-3/4" wide x 8" long strips of quilted Pacific Maple veneer that I could use as stain samples. I stained up the strips of maple with the stain formula and staining procedures that were given to me but I varied the formula slightly on each strip until I arrived at the one that I liked the best. What really concerned me was that the stained samples looked great while they were wet but when the stain dried the darker wood grain that I really liked faded badly. I spoke with South Cox who told me that the "wet look" that I was after would be there once the limb veneers are glued up under clear glass and the maple risers and overlays were finished with clear epoxy finish. I gave South my final stain sample strips, the bottles of stain, eye droppers and a written formula for mixing the stains and application. He assured me that he would follow my formula. Here is a photo of the many pairs of stained limb veneers that South made for my bows. Notice that the wood grain is barely visible when dry.
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South was right about the darker grain looking great again once the limbs and risers were finished with 7 coats of clear epoxy. I found it interesting that the stained maple limb veneers looked slightly darker under clear glass and that provided a nice contrast to the lighter color epoxy finished maple risers and limb overlays. South's last coat of epoxy was a satin finish to keep reflections down.
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Topic: New Stalker Stickbows (Read 2038 times)
