What is the best way to finish Rosewood

[wisardd1]

Gonna build another Mission Clock out of Rosewood. I guess Rosewood is oily so is the wipe on poly mix not recommended?

Dale

[triplefreak]

Leave it be.

[dcarter636]

Why not? Depending on what kind of rosewood you use, there is a lot of very different looking lumber called rosewood.

Dark orange-red rosewood is one place where I prefer to apply tung oil and pretty much whatever you like as a film finish, shellac works very well, as do oil based polyurethanes or varnishes. Boiled Linseed oil can make this rosewood so dark that it hides the figure.

Can't help with how well lacquer or water based stuff does but someone else will.

[wisardd1]

Leave it be? At minimum I would sand it up to 4000 grit. saw that done in a woodcraft story on some bubinga. Looked like glass.

[Ruffnek]

I love Minwax WO Poly. I remember Dano (Danford C. Jennings) touting it as a great finish way back there on the other forum. I also remember being surprised that Dano liked ANY Minwax product since so many seem to turn their noses up at Minwax.

Flash forward to last year and I was admiring Boodrow's finishes on the bottle stoppers he turns...very smooth and natural looking. His go-to finish...Minwax wipe on Polyurethane, multiple coats and sanding with 4-0 steel wool between coats.

It doesn't build fast and waiting 24 hours between coats means it takes a while to apply but the end result is worth it for a hobbiest like me.

[wisardd1]

By the way, it is called Tiger Rosewood. I wanted Indian Rosewood, but I couldn't find the right size or look to the piece I had in mind. The Tiger has stripes as the name indicates and has a backtone of lightened Nestles chochlogate with yellowish darker and lighter browns. I'll take a picture of it when I get home. It was only 15 per BDFT verses 28 for the Indian.

By the way, I use minwax stains alot. I like them and you can buy them everywhere. I tried their poly once and it seems really sticky. I hate sticky! I really like Maloofs stuff but it is $30qt now and not worth it. Lately, I have been using Armor Seal by General finished and add a tinge of tung oil to it. Works pretty good. I tried the naptha BLO and poly and couldn't handle the smell. It just smelt wrong!

[sawduster]

You could replace the naphtha with mineral spirits or turpentine. In fact, there are those who say the turps is the only way to go with that mix.

I find that the brushing minwax poly is almost thin enough to wipe on and that being the case, it will build faster than the stuff that has been thinned quite a bit.

[wisardd1]

couple of pics of the rosewood

[lexrex]

That's a nice looking piece of wood. I'd take a small scrap and try an oil on it. I really like what a nice tung oil or BLO does to a piece of wood like that, however, your piece already looks great! you might get some richer tones with the oil vs. straight poly.

PS. I've also heard that rosewood is "oily" but I haven't had any where poly was an issue.

[sawduster]

If you're concerned about the oiliness of the wood causing issues with an oil based finished, you could always wipe the piece down with denatured alcohol just prior to applying your finish. That would remove the oil from the surface and give the finish time to cure before more oil from the wood leached to the surface.

[wisardd1]

The only reason I am asking the question is because on maloof's products they say not to use on rosewood or other oily woods. Maybe our brain child might have a say. Geez, I wish my IQ was 165. With that kind of high powered brain cell activity you can not stop your mind from knowing stuff, both profound and trivial.

[maxwellsmart007]

Be very careful to protect yourself from the dust...

You can develop a very serious reaction to rosewoods...I now end up going to emerg any time I'm near cocobolo...

Andrew

[rhull]

Dec 10, 2009 14:02:17 GMT -6 maxwellsmart007 said:

You can develop a very serious reaction to rosewoods...I now end up going to emerg any time I'm near cocobolo...

Sooooo...I shouldn't send you that cocobolo pen I made you for Christmas, Andrew?

[maxwellsmart007]

Depends what finish you put on it Rob!

[sawduster]

Dec 10, 2009 13:49:31 GMT -6 wisardd1 said:

The only reason I am asking the question is because on maloof's products they say not to use on rosewood or other oily woods. Maybe our brain child might have a say. Geez, I wish my IQ was 165. With that kind of high powered you can not stop your mind from knowing stuff, both profound and trivial.

Maloof's finish is a sort of Danish Oil finish, a mixture of poly varnish and oils and the issue is likely the drying oils used in the mix may be hampered in curing by oily woods.

Best thing might be to use some scrap of your wood to do some testing of different finishes, both to see which finishes cure well and what the wood looks like with each finish applied (well the ones that cure, anyway).

[wisardd1]

so far what I like is plain ol' oil and wax

[wisardd1]

update on Rosewood Clock. Will have stained glass rose and a wax only finish will bring out the beauty of rosewood. Clock facd will be black with gold numbers and a pendulum movement behind the rose.

[Joe Lyddon]

Beautiful clock!

Yes, I think I'd go with the Sam Maloof type of finish...

Oil combo...

Oil wax...

Top section...
www.woodworkstuff.net/woodidxfin.html

It would work GREAT on that wood! IMHO...

[wisardd1]

[sawduster]

Dat's nice!!!

What sort of clock mechanism are you gonna use?