stain - the way to a koa look?

I was curious whether anyone had experimented with a light gold/bronze stain for a lighter wood?

Say perhaps a flamed maple with a light stain - could this get some of the koa look?

I'm imagining there are flamed woods out there which are cheaper than hawaiian koa - which could be made to give the koa effect?

I'm not advocating pulling the wool over people's eyes - just thinking about getting a relatively cheaper faux alternative?

6sc


Flamed Koa:



Flamed Maple:

Personal I do not see the point in trying to foe one nice wood to look like another, although this is often done in mass manufacturing to fool the consumer and also homogenize the varied look of a wood of even the same species. It would most likely be more cost effective to use Koa if that is the look that you want in a custom piece, and use the qualities of the other woods for what they have. Labor is the most expensive part.

Just my opinion on the subject.

The best way to achieve that look is by sealing the wood with several coats of orange shellac and spraying tinted coats of lacquer over top. If you stain the wood raw then the stain fills in the curl and you lose the "shimmering" appearance of the grain. Its pretty difficult to do and you wont fool anyone that knows what koa should look like. After all is said and done, you'd probably be just as well off to use koa from the start.

Also, you need a very fine spray pattern otherwise it looks splotchy.