What finish for a Wenge Bowl

[Harvey Schneider]

I just turned a bowl of Wenge. It's a beautiful wood but I will probably never turn it again. The black dust while cutting was so bad that I had to wear my power ventilator.
Now to the question. I would normally use Tung Oil finish on a small bowl like this, but I am concerned that it will hide the contrast inherent in the grain of the wood. What finish would you use on this piece?
Harvey in Southbury, CT

Post Script,
I should add that this piece was sanded to #600 grit and has a lovely luster as it is. What raised my concern is that skin oils from my finger tips have altered the appearance of the grain on the underside of the bowl. I am concerned that any oil that penetrates the wood will darken the lighter grain and obscure the contrast. I do have some small wedges of the wood that I can experiment with.

[David Woodruff]

Seal with Behlen's Vinyl Sealer and apply several coats of lacquer. Of course buffed on wax will also do nicely with a dense, hard wood like wenge with less trouble. Let us know this turns out.

[David E Keller]

That's a really nice looking bowl. I would consider a spray lacquer finish... I think that would probably least obscure the grain.

[Joe Shinall]

No clue on a finish, I just wanted to say that is a gorgeous bowl.

[Curt Fuller]

That is such a great form and such nice wood that I would be tempted to just sand it to a very high grit and call it finished. If you have a scrap that you can test some oil on I think some danish oil might enhance the grain. But I'd stay away from anything that fills the pores in the grain. I think that's the first time I've ever seen anyone tackle something as large as a bowl from Wenge. But you sure did a beautiful job with it.

[John Hart]

Don't use lacquer.



:eek: What?....did I just say that?

[David E Keller]

Don't use lacquer...

Just curious... Why not?

[John Hart]

Just curious... Why not?

Oh...I just think that there is a high probability of an uneven finish....some pores would fill, while others wouldn't. If I did go with a lacquer, I would just do light coats of satin...but even then, lacquer can be unpredictable...one accidental heavy spot, and it's tough to recover.

Just me really, but in my opinion, that wood would finish up nicely with antique oil.

[David E Keller]

I hadn't thought of that... Thank you, Professor Hart.:)

[Bernie Weishapl]

I would probably finish it with Minwax Antique oil.

[Norm Zax]

Gorgeous bowl. My suggestion: finish a small rod of that wood at the same standard, apply masking tape dividing it into three or four, finish each section differently and compare. That "research" will take 2-3 days and ellimiate the "what if" situation. Pls show the results!

[Matt Armstrong]

I think I'd consider just waxing it, as weird as that sounds. You're right about the grain in wenge - it's easy to just sort of wash out.

[John Hart]

I think I'd consider just waxing it, as weird as that sounds. You're right about the grain in wenge - it's easy to just sort of wash out.

At first I thought...Hmmm, wax would probably leave light spots in the ingrain, especially considering the darkness of the wood.....but the more I thought about it...I wonder if you could wax it, then torch it. You know, just enough torch to melt the wax, but not enough to harm the wood.

Another experiment for another day?:confused:

[Harvey Schneider]

Of course buffed on wax will also do nicely with a dense, hard wood like wenge with less trouble.

What about friction polish? I'm concerned about it's durability, but I think that it should work well with the Wenge.
Harvey

[John Keeton]

Gorgeous bowl. My suggestion: finish a small rod of that wood at the same standard, apply masking tape dividing it into three or four, finish each section differently and compare. That "research" will take 2-3 days and ellimiate the "what if" situation. Pls show the results!I am with Norm on this one! This is a beautiful bowl, and there are no opportunities for a redo on finishing!!

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Harvey, just an FYI, wenge is a great wood to bleach; and liming wax can be very effective. The final results can be very dramatic - just something to think about, especially if you ever do another one.

[Harvey Schneider]

An update on my quest for a finish for Wenge.
All of the surface coatings had the same effect on the appearance of Wenge. They turn the brown lines in the wood to the same dark brown/black as the dark lines of the wood. After treatment with any oil, varnish, wax, etc the wood was a characterless very dark brown to almost black monolithic surface.
The only finish that showed a glimmer of hope was wipe on poly. The poly wasn't good enough for me to go ahead with it, so I am pursuing Malcom's suggestion of bleaching.
I have just sanded down one of my scraps and wet the surface with straight chlorine bleach. It was surprising that I do not see anything dramatic happening yet. I am going to have to wait for it to dry after I wash off the bleach.
If somebody knows a better way to bleach wood please let me know.
What I am after is to preserve the delicate ringed pattern that is inherent in the unfinished wood.
Harvey

[David E Keller]

Although I don't have any experience with it, there is a two part wood bleach specifically designed for what you are trying to do. Not sure about sources.

[Wally Dickerman]

Very Nice! A long time ago a guy gave me a wenge bowl blank. After I started turning it I realized why he gave it away...nasty stuff to turn.

I've used wenge for collars, etc. I bleached several and got a very interesting color. I followed by finishing the vessels with my usual Daly's tung oil and they came out great. I suggest that if you have some bleach on hand, try it on some scrap pieces.

To properly bleach wood you need a two part bleach made for bleaching wood. (lot of bleaches in that sentence) I use Daly's.

Wally

[Cathy Schaewe]

Not that I know what I'm talking about, but what about just using Ren Wax? That might keep the fingerprint oil away from the wood, while not changing the appearance. Just a suggestion.