Thread: Finishing Rosewood and Huon pine

How do you want to finish it? What are you looking for in the finish? Do you want quick and easy? Do you want long lasting? Do you want oil? do you want shellac? What about Poly Urethane or Nitrocellulose. I'm sure you've asked this before.

LGS

Well yes I have but I would like to french polish it and I know the timber can produce resin which will make the finish bubble. This is why I was going to use organoil but that changes the colour of the huon pine.

Ground Hog Day.

Why did you like me to that?

The reference to Ground Hog Day means that we're just reliving the same place again.

I have looked up Rose Mahogany, which is a more correct name for Dysoxylon Fraseranum, which is I assume, what you have. Both the Queensland "Dept of Trees" and the Australian Furniture Timber site (Index Page AFT) refer to the issue of aromatic oil droplets (as opposed to resin) which may on occasional boards cause a finish to become cloudy or blotchy.
Both sites also recommend using well seasoned timber and, if you are in doubt, wiping the surfaces with Alcohol (Metho will do) before finishing. This info is readily available. A quick look at the characteristics of Rose Mahogany would have given you the answer.

LGS

Starting a thread asking for advice then starting another a week or so later gives the impression you don't like the advice you originally got. It's awfully rude. Instead, how about rephrasing your question in the original thread? There IS more than one way to approach things and we're more than happy to help. I'm less likely to assist you if you start another thread asking the same question.

For what it's worth, here are two pictures showing Birds eye Huon Pine in three stages of oil finish.
In pic #1, the block on the left is raw timber, The block on the right was oiled about three weeks ago. The table top they are sitting on was oiled seven years ago.
In Pic #2, the block at the top is raw, the block at the bottom was oiled three weeks ago and the table top was oiled seven years ago.

Yes there is some darkening over time, but IMHO it adds to the delicateness of the Huon.

LGS

Firstly scott I'm sorry I gave you that impression. The reason I started another thread is because I changed timber from jarrah to rosewood and so I thought the finish would be totally different because of the rosewoods having problems. I would love to use organoil and I probably will but I got worried that as it makes the huon go darker and I have also changed to a lighter timber the contrast between the two wont be as great. But maybe thats a good thing.

Thank you for that LGS that comparison is helpful.

Again sorry for starting a new thread.

Have you given any thought to going over it with a white shellac before applying final polish coats? This shouldn't affect the timber colours; no more than any other possible finish, anyway.

Diluting it 5:1 with an good metho (or similar ethanol substitute) makes for a great sanding sealer & the metho content helps alleviate problems with any resins/oils in the timber.

It always helps to give it a quick wipe-down with pure metho immediately before applying, of course.

No I haven't. Thank you I will give that some thought.