Hallway table made of Bubinga

[Fred Widerick]

Was hoping to pick the brains of those much wiser than I. I have just finished the assembly of a hallway table made of Bubinga (African Rosewood) It has been sanded down to a smooth finish with 900 grit paper and I will be leaving the natural grain with no stain. Does anyone have any particular fondness for a specific finish to get the grain to stand out. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks all.

[Scott Holmes]

Sanding bare wood past about 220 grit is not needed nor recommended if you plan to add a clear film finish to the table. 400 is all thats needed for a "Danish oil" finish(DO is an oil/varnish blend).

What look and feel do you want when the table is finished?

I would use a non poly varnish mixed with BLO and MS in equal parts to make your own "danish oil".

I say NO to poly because it adds nothing to the oil/varnish blend; the toughness of poly is not there when in a blend; and you still get the BAD traits of poly like- adhesion issues, cloudiness when compared to non poly varnish, etc.

Contrary to what many MARKETING guys say, tung oil (pure) and BLO by themselves are not good, long lasting finishes for furniture. They will need to be reapplied on an annual basis if you let them go too long without renewing them they tend to crystilize and then they will to be removed and you get to start over.

Some Tung oil finishes are not even tung oil...

[Fred Widerick]

Scott;
I had thought of the oil based finish rather than a poly type. Ithink it would indeed provide a much richer finish and luster.
Now for the next question.
MS I will assume refers to mineral spirits, what does the acronim BLO stand for. Just learning these new terms. Sorry for the slow up-take.
Thanks Scott.

[Jamie Buxton]

Within the past two years, I've built a craftsman-style couch, a bed, two nightstands, and a dresser all from bubinga. I've used wipe-on varnish on all of them. Wipe-on gives me good control about how thick the varnish film gets to be. A brush or a spray make the layer too thick for my taste. For one of the pieces, I was still using Pratt&Lambert 38 (an alkyd varnish), thinned with odor-free mineral spirits. Around then, I shifted to MinWax Wipe-on Poly. (Despite the "poly" in the name, MinWax is silent about what proportion is actually polyurethane. My guess is that it is primarily alkyd, with a little poly.) As far as I can tell, the two finishes give the same results.

My usual process with wiping varnish on a dense hardwood like bubinga is to sand to 600 first. The film is thin enough that the scratches from coarser sandpaper do affect the finish sheen. I apply three or four coats -- basically until the added coat doesn't change the sheen. To wipe it on, I use a small pad of old tee-shirt material. I skitter-sand between coats with 800 grit. (Skitter-sanding.. Just lightly hand-sanding, almost like you are dusting the surface. All I'm doing is knocking down any little nibs or dust particles. You can feel them before the skitter sanding, and not afterwards.)

[Jamie Buxton]

Scott;
I had thought of the oil based finish rather than a poly type. Ithink it would indeed provide a much richer finish and luster.
Now for the next question.
MS I will assume refers to mineral spirits, what does the acronim BLO stand for. Just learning these new terms. Sorry for the slow up-take.
Thanks Scott.

The terms in finishing are not often used consistently. A true oil finish is probably not what you want. Oil is oil, in my lexicon. It doesn't harden, and it provides minimal protection against water. I use oil on kitchen utensils, like a wooden spoon. For furniture I use varnish. Varnish does harden into a solid. It is partly in the surface layer of the wood, and partly a film on top of the wood. Varnish does provide protection against water and other stains. Varnish can be made from many resins -- alkyd (from linseed, soy, or other vegetable sources), acrylic, polyester, polyurethane, and others. Many modern varnishes have multiple resins. Ones called polyurethane are almost never 100% poly. They're generally mostly other resins with a little poly added.

[Mitch Barker]

I built a 2'x10' counter from bubinga. I used the classic recipe of of equal parts boiled linseed oil (BLO)/Mineral spirits (MS/ and Min wax fast drying oil based poly.

1) flood the surface. Let it soak for about 30 min.
2) while its still wet, sand it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.
3) wipe it off so the surface is just about dry (there's still plenty soaked into the pores, you just don't want any on the surface. se plenty of paper towels
4) repeat 5-6 times without the sanding.
5) let dry a few days
6) wet sand with 800-1000 grit sandpaper. use MS or water with a bit of detergent as a lubricant.
7) apply a paste wax

If you want more gloss, use twice as much poly for the last wipe on coat so the ratio is 1/1/2.

Looks beatiful and the rub out followed by the wax gives it the feel everyone needs to touch.

Mitch