Dealing with "Ridges" on Figured Maple Back

[Andy Morton]

Hi--I am dealing with sanding/scraping ridges that occur with smoothing a curly maple back---do any of you have any tips or strategies to suggest that work for you?

I am getting there between using a low angled light when scraping and sanding (and a light wetting)---just looking to improve in how i do this.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Andy Morton
Madison, WI

[fscotte]

I use an orbital sander. And finish by hand to get rid of those swirlys.

[Tom Haywood]

Sand, sand, sand, sand, sand. Did I mention sand? Then it seems the ridges come back up anyway.

[Brian Harris]

I know, when dealing with furniture, you intentionally raise it with a bit of water. Especially with these water-based Poly finished you want to raise and knock it down before finishing.

But I've never used figure wood so the parallel might be weak.

[John Kelly]

I am having the same trials with maple back and sides at the moment - the sides not so much, but the back has areas where the grain changes direction radically and I am using a cabinet scraper to try to get a good finish. I have scraped in one general direction, tail to headstock, and then gone across that direction to try to get the errant patches smoothed out. Finish is going to be TruOil, so I hope that when I get the scraping finished I can get the oil to give me help in getting a smooth finish. Time will tell.