Finish

What to use for the best finish?
I want a clear finish on spalted maple to highlight the timber but not sure of the best way to achieve this, dingo tone or tru oil. Any suggestions?

IMO, not Dingotone.

If you're looking at only finishes that can be applied by hand (wipe-on) Tru Oil or polyurethane are the way to go. However, you can buy poly in spray cans if you want to go that route.

Two things to keep in mind with those products: Tru Oil will have a slight amber tint to it as a result of having Boiled Linseed Oil as an ingredient, and will slightly darken over time. Poly will stay pretty much clear and it does "age" but not as much as Tru Oil.

If you want to get an idea of what the timber will look like with a clear coat, give it a wipe down with a clean rag dampened with turps or metho. Not saturated, just damp.

I used tru-oil on my spalted maple (LP-1SS) build and it was great. But I wanted the amber tint.

Spalted maple is best IMO with either a clear or slightly amber tint finish. I think anything else takes away from the spalt detail.

Not dingotone (too big a chance of it not hardening). In addition to the wipe-on finishes mentioned, there are the poly, acrylic and nitro spray options though if you can only work indoors, to stick with a wipe-on. Of the sprays, nitro is the only one that’s easy to get with an amber tint (if that’s what you want), but it’s normally 2-3 times the price of poly or acrylic.