I'm trying some finishes out on scrap (what? don't you do that?) mahogany
trying to find something I like for my project.
I'm not finding anything I'm crazy about yet so I'm throwing it to the rec.
What's your favorite finish for mahogany (african, if it matters)?
do you pore fill or not? why? etc etc etc etc.....
Joe
"B A R R Y" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:02:51 GMT, "Joe" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>I'm not finding anything I'm crazy about yet so I'm throwing it to the
>>rec.
>>What's your favorite finish for mahogany (african, if it matters)?
>
> I like a clear lacquer or hard varnish. Sometimes, I'll dye it first,
> others I'll rub a dark wax into the pores.
>
>>do you pore fill or not? why? etc etc etc etc.....
>
> I've used both fillers and sanding sealers to fill pores. In these
> instances, I'm often looking for a highly polished, guitar-like
> finish. In other cases, I've pore filled table tops and left the
> rest of the table's pores open.
>
> Mahogany is very easy to finish, but you need a goal first.
>
> What look are you shooting for?
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> ** http://www.bburke.com/woodworking.html **
> ---------------------------------------------
Barry,
Goals are good. I've tried some of the suggestions and settled on the
following.
Behlen's water based pore filler
3 coats bulls eye shellac tinted with transtint reddish-brown
3 coats oil-based wiping varnish rubbed out with 0000 wool
1 coat scjohnson wax and buffed.
Looks great (at least on the scrap.... lol)
Will post pics when finished
jc
Joe wrote:
> I'm trying some finishes out on scrap (what? don't you do that?)
> mahogany trying to find something I like for my project.
>
> I'm not finding anything I'm crazy about yet so I'm throwing it to
> the rec. What's your favorite finish for mahogany (african, if it
> matters)?
Lacquer. Varnish for more color.
___________
> do you pore fill or not? why? etc etc etc etc.....
Depends. If one wants a "piano" finish you pretty much have to.
Alternative is *many, many* coats of clear finish. Personally, I do
neither because I don't want to spend the hours and hours to do a
perfect finish and then see it get damaged.
African mahogany (Khaya) is a bit more open grained that Swietenia.
--
dadiOH
____________________________
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> Lacquer. Varnish for more color.
> ___________
>
>> do you pore fill or not? why? etc etc etc etc.....
>
> Depends. If one wants a "piano" finish you pretty much have to.
> Alternative is *many, many* coats of clear finish. Personally, I do
> neither because I don't want to spend the hours and hours to do a
> perfect finish and then see it get damaged.
>
> African mahogany (Khaya) is a bit more open grained that Swietenia.
>
> --
>
> dadiOH
dadiOH,
Thanks. not looking for that piano finish. Don't even know what I *am*
looking for, just that I haven't found it yet. I'll try your suggestions
and see what I get.
Thanks again,
jc
On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 13:09:17 GMT, "Joe" <[email protected]> wrote:
>Behlen's water based pore filler
>3 coats bulls eye shellac tinted with transtint reddish-brown
>3 coats oil-based wiping varnish rubbed out with 0000 wool
>1 coat scjohnson wax and buffed.
>
>Looks great (at least on the scrap.... lol)
>
>Will post pics when finished
Lookin' forward to it!
Aren't Transtint dyes great?
Sounds like a good schedule.
---------------------------------------------
** http://www.bburke.com/woodworking.html **
---------------------------------------------
dadiOH wrote:
> Joe wrote:
>> I'm trying some finishes out on scrap (what? don't you do that?)
>> mahogany trying to find something I like for my project.
>>
>> I'm not finding anything I'm crazy about yet so I'm throwing it to
>> the rec. What's your favorite finish for mahogany (african, if it
>> matters)?
>
> Lacquer. Varnish for more color.
> ___________
>
>> do you pore fill or not? why? etc etc etc etc.....
>
> Depends. If one wants a "piano" finish you pretty much have to.
> Alternative is *many, many* coats of clear finish. Personally, I do
> neither because I don't want to spend the hours and hours to do a
> perfect finish and then see it get damaged.
>
> African mahogany (Khaya) is a bit more open grained that Swietenia.
>
Depends on the finish you want. Because mahogany is such an open pored
wood, you have to use a pore filler if you want a smooth or glossy finish.
If you are going for a gloss finish, your only REAL option is to use a good
pore filler and then lacquer or varnish.
If you want a semi-gloss or satin, your choices widen. You can use multiple
coats of shellac, color of your choice.
On the other hand you could use an oil finish, put on NOT as the directions
on the can say, but as per instructions I saw somewhere and copied but do
not have direct access to at the moment) Flood for an hour, let dry 48
hours, flood and sand with 500 wet dry DO NOT wipe. Let dry 24 hours and
sand with 500 grit wipe then put a good even coat on, wipe and let dry 24
hours, sand with 600 grit and put on another coat and wipe and let dry.
Sand with 1000 grit, wipe and put on another coat, wipe and let dry. Sand
with 1000 grit wipe and wipe on a final think coat and let dry. When fully
dry, buff with 0000 or better steel wool and put on a couple of coats of
good paste wax (I use Briwax). It will be a nice satin to semi-gloss and
smooth as the proverbable babies backside.
If you like the open pore look:
You could just let the pores show and put on a good poly.
You could sand to 400 and buff in about three coats of wax.
Deb
On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:02:51 GMT, "Joe" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>I'm not finding anything I'm crazy about yet so I'm throwing it to the rec.
>What's your favorite finish for mahogany (african, if it matters)?
I like a clear lacquer or hard varnish. Sometimes, I'll dye it first,
others I'll rub a dark wax into the pores.
>do you pore fill or not? why? etc etc etc etc.....
I've used both fillers and sanding sealers to fill pores. In these
instances, I'm often looking for a highly polished, guitar-like
finish. In other cases, I've pore filled table tops and left the
rest of the table's pores open.
Mahogany is very easy to finish, but you need a goal first.
What look are you shooting for?
---------------------------------------------
** http://www.bburke.com/woodworking.html **
---------------------------------------------