I read a lot of posts asking how to "pop the grain" on figured wood. The answers are amazing to me, usually limited to applying a penetrating oil of some kind. That will bring out the softer growth but isn't a good idea with some film finishes as it can potentially cause adhesion issues. There is one much simpler method and it is to simply hand plane or hand scrape the surface. The cut fibers show off figured wood much better than any of the other methods I have tried.
As you can see in the photo the right side of this figured Walnut has been scraped and the left side has been sanded. The results are startling to me in the clarity of the figure.
Another method to use after scraping or planing is to apply two dye colors. A darker color to color the softer growth which is scraped off the hard growth. Then a lighter color is applied to the entire surface which further enhances the figure.
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