finishing pine burl

[triw51]

A friend gave me a beautiful pine burl and it is full of pitch. I turned a small bowl out of some of it and it is full of fiddle back and quilting. I sanded it wet using mineral spirits to 400 grit. Now my question what finish would some one recommend that will seal the wood and not react with the pine pitch. Thanks for any help or ideas. William

 

[Wildman]

I do not know for sure, but de-waxed shellac would be my first choice.

 

[Scruffy]

De Waxed Shellac is

a very good recommendation. If the grain is really wild, you might sand it forward and reverse. Between sandings, put a coat or two of de waxed shellac on it. The seal it with a few coats of dewaxed shellac both forward and reverse.

I used that method for bowls where I don't get consistent feel on the finish depending on the direction you run your fingers in testing the finish. Reversing lathe direction with both sanding and finishing will smooth out the grain edges and allow the shellac to fill the pores better.

At last for me it seems to work better.