BLO on cocobolo?

[Patrick Nailon]

I read that you cannot use BLO on cocobolo, as it won't dry properly. I am building a project of cobobolo & leopardwood, and I'd like to pop the leopardwood grain with BLO. Does cocobolo interfere with BLO? Should I plan to BLO the leopardwood before assembly?

Thanks for any help with this.

[Jim Tobias]

Patrick,
The few times I have used Cocobolo, I have found it to be very oily naturally. You can get a fairly nice shine on it simply by buffing the wood as is.
I think you may have problems getting the blo to dry properly/completely on the cocobolo. So, applying it to the leopard wood(with which I have no experience) before assembly sounds like a good idea.
I'm sure others with more cocobolo experience that I will chime in.

Jim

[Prashun Patel]

I wouldn't 'finish' the piece with BLO. Apparently, the oils in cocobolo will prevent a heavy coat of BLO from getting oxygen and drying properly.

However, to pop grain, you only need a light wipe down with BLO, which won't require much drying.

[Arthur Travers]

No, No definitely not...You will destroy its beautiful color..should be
finished with lacquer ...waterborne would do the job..
Take a look at some cocobolo I just finished..

[Patrick Nailon]

That looks gorgeous, Arthur! Thanks for the advice.

[Arthur Travers]

You might try non-waxed shellac on the leopard wood.. I'd be careful with the BLO since
it will darken the wood. Frankly, since the wood has dark and lite stripes what are you
going to pop? I would experiment on some leopard wood to see what you are going to
get..