Nice pen, bad finish..RRRRRRR

[John M]

Finally got a jig done for the borrowed table saw, spent time getting everything dialed in. Careful glueing, then very careful drilling, turning, I spent time on it cause I wanted it to be perfect. My first time turning Black Ebony. It is a weird wood to turn, stained my hands a little, very powdery. So I went to CA finish. I tried for about an hour, kept getting bad spots. Finally gave up and sanded all down and put on some wax. Did not know about the oily woods till I came in and searched. I guess next time I will know. But aside from the finish, I finally got a knot right.

 

[JasonM]

great looking knot!

 

[Sabaharr]

I have found that cleaning about 5 times with acetone while slowly spinning on lathe will help with oily woods. After drying overnight I clean it another 5 to 10 times and set overnight again. Then twice more and it should be ready for any finish. THe overnight wait isn't actually drying time because the acetone flashes off in a minute or so. THe wait is to let the wood secrete more oils from the inside. THen clearing that out the next day thins out the effect of the oils. I hace only done this with Cabolo Negro so far but it worked great. Couldnt get a finish before but have a nice one now. Only time will tell if it will hold up. THe cleaning process does leave a brown stain on the papertowel used so I know at least some of the oils were being removed. I was wondering if putting it under a vaccum submerged in acetone would help. Once released the acetone would leach out bringing the thinned oils out with it. But since acetone is highly volitole I don't know if I want to try that without an experts opinion as to the possible results. Anyone have an idea as to what might happen? Success or explosion?
Stephen

 

[Dave_M]

One of the problems I always run into with using acetone on African Blackwood is it seems to open the grain in a big way. That can make it very difficult to finish.