Opinions on Blackwood Finish

[rodtod11]

I'm doing an over and under shotgun pen. I am using spalted maple, a stabilized wood on the pen which by itself will polish to a nice finish. I am doing the cap in blackwood and want to keep it more natural. Any opinions on how to finish it? I was thinking of just sanding it down to a 600 grit. But, what would you do?

 

[plantman]

I have made several of these pens in the past, and not wanting to have a glassy CA finish on them I used a three step Hut wax finish to give a more natural look. Brown bar, white bar, carnuba wax. Jim S

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

I always use CA on wood pens. The protection (scratches, stains, wear, etc) it affords is necessary. Don't do "up glossy" finishes very often, but when required, have had good luck in the past by just not sanding & polishing to a high gloss - stop at 1000 or so.

BTW - African Blackwood is one of those rather "oily" woods that will make finishing problematic if it isn't wiped down with a degreaser (DNA or acetone) just prior to applying the finish.

 

[Rich L]

If your cutting tool is very sharp and your feed is very slow, you can get a pristine, shiny finish on ABW without any further effort. Ornamental turners rely on that property of ABW and machining approach because the contours they end up with are sometimes impossible to finish further. They never do any sanding or filling. However, if you're trying to turn by hand on a wood lathe, you may not be able to get that. I've also run into substandard ABW that doesn't turn well at all - it's porous, stringy, and will not finish well - so watch what you get. All the ABW I use and have is natural, unstabilized and un-degreased. I prefer the texture of it all natural.

Cheers,
Rich

 

[Mortalis]

Check out Eddie Castelin's shine juice. A mixture of boiled linseed oil, shellac and alcohol. I use it when i don't want to cover up the grain and a high polish usually does that especially on dark wood like bog oak.