Maple platforms

Piedpiper, I like everything better about the Osmo hardwax oil.

Most important is the finish. It has a nice luster and brings out the grain but does not build up and look plasticy(?) like varnish. Very durable since it is used extensively on floors (Europe and Great Britain). Easy to fix scratches.

Osmo does not color the wood. I used it on maple butcherblock (equipment rack and spiked platform for my power conditioner) and loved the results. First I tried Osmo and tung oil on a scrap piece. Tung oil gave a sickly orange color and darkened the wood. Osmo just brought out the grain and gave a natural looking satin finish. It did not hide the beauty of the maple.

I don''t like the price but feel it is well worth it.

Other plusses. Very easy to apply. Brush on and wipe off. Fairly quick drying so you can recoat the next day. A fairly environmentally friendly product. Pleasant odor with a low solvent concentration.

Guidocorona--70% turpentine!!!! Nasty smelling stuff. I used to paint houses way back in the oil paint/turpentine days. Never used close to 70% and it still made me sick. In fact, I am having a flashback. Excuse me while I puke up my liver.

Tom,

Glad to read in your Faq that you also like sandboxes. I improved my sandbox by cutting up the wood plinth that rests on the sand to isolate suspension towers, motor, and flywheel from each other and prevent vibration from being conducted across the plinth. Then I converted my TT from sprung to hard suspension to improve coupling to the sand. The set-up was then significantly improved by adding springs to float the 300 lb. TT/sandbox combo. It's likely that any thick maple platform would similarly benefit from springs. The sandbox or thick maple acts as a dump for TT vibration, and the springs decouple the entire assembly from earth.

Dgarretson, swap out that maple with some jatoba, cocobolo or other really dense hardwood and I think you'll forget all about maple under your table. Even worse is spikes into maple.

Dan ed,

what don't you like about spikes into maple?

Dan ed,

You have beautiful woods in your plinth and custom rack, and I don't doubt the superiority of dense hardwoods. What I'm suggesting is that anyone with a hard-mount TT on a wood block or in a wood case (e.g. Lenco, Garrard)try floating the entire system (including wood rack) on another platform supported by heavy springs. Prior to trying this, I had shored up my floors & rack such that I could jump up and down without disturbing the stylus in its groove. But obviously there were earth vibrations still getting through, as the decoupling springs have made a further improvement. Now I can rest the needle on a stationary record and knuckle-rap the rack without a peep getting through to the speakers. Can you do this with your rack system?