I am finishing up two blocks of Curly Maple for antler mounts similar to the one in my avitar. Maple is a light wood and I really want to bring out the figure in the curl of the wood, but I dont want to darken it much. What do you guys suggest I use so that I get a good finish on it.

Oh yea how do you finish of the wood? I have heard some people say they sand everything down really fine then gloss it then sand it again then just keep doing this over and over till they get what they want. Does this really work? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Knifeboy

If you want to bring out the color and show some depth use tung oil or linseed oil. I've always used the tung oil, but have been working with the linseed oil and it seems like it could be the better of the two. You can use as many coats as you want, with a light steelwool between coats after drying. Then you can really give the grain life by hand rubbing pure carnuba wax after the desired amout of coats.