Working with Redwood Burl

[William Hamilton]

I was luck enough to pick up this slab of redwood burl (approx. 60" x 36" x 2.5") for pretty cheap and I'm going to make a coffee table out of it. The base will be an "X" with a lap joint, joined to the top by several mortise and tenon joints. A few nice butterfly keys are also going in the top in a few places.
I've never worked with redwood, or redwood burl for that matter. From what I have read, making sure to use sharp tools and taking my time are important. I've also read actually wetting the surface prior to cutting or sanding is helpful. True? Is there anything else I should be aware of? A buddy told me that I should sand it to a higher grit than normal... maybe to 400 grit, because "redwood will soak up more oil and may become darker than you want it to if you don't sand it to a higher grit." Is this true? I know its relatively soft and does soak up a lot so that makes sense to me.

[Steve Bagi]

I recently made a picture frame with Redwood Burl. Finished it with Waterlox which definitely made it much darker. It soaked up quite a bit because of all the exposed end grain. I'd probably use blonde shellac next time, at least to seal it. Be careful with machining, burl wood tends to have pieces or chunks break off when you are least expecting it. Redwood Burl is soft - especially for a coffee table. Just be ready for plenty of dings which add character.

[Harvey Pascoe]

I've veneered a number of boxes with redwood burl and have had no problem at all with tear out. Runs thru a planer beautifully. That piece of burl is obviously aged and when you machine it will lighten up substantially and then darken again when you finish it. IMHO oil is not a suitable finish for redwood. I'd go with a water base as this will cause much less darkening if light is what you want.

[Richard Coers]

I think the 400 grit will cause you some problems. The soft early grain in redwood is really soft. The late growth is harder, similar to fir. If you over polish it with the 400, you will get a washboard type of surface since the 400 will not cut that hard part of the grain. I agree that oil will not be the best finish. Maybe experiment with a coat of shellac, then some wipe on poly. Good luck.

[William Hamilton]

now i'm totally unsure what to do... the guy who told me to sand it to a high grit is an experienced carpenter for a living..
I am going to have to take a bit off the straight edge to give it a nice bevel underneath, so maybe I will experiment with finishes on what I take off. A clear wiping varnish, a la Bartley's, may be a good idea. Of course I could make my way down to Nakashima and ask those guys what they use, but I've become a bit of regular there. haha

[Frank Drew]

I turned some bowls from some a long time ago; as I remember, it presented no special difficulties and finished well. It's the only wood I've used other than sugar maple that had birds' eyes. Pretty striking stuff, really.

[William Hamilton]

almost done with this table... thanks to this forum I got plenty of great advice and the finish on the table is coming along just how I wanted it to turn out.
I dry sanded it to 300 and put on 4 coats of Bartley's Gel varnish. I let that cure up for 2 weeks. Tonight I wet sanded the bottom on the table top with 400p, 600p, and 800p wet/dry paper, then used some Meguiar's polishing compound and buffed that out. Finally, I rubbed on some wax and buffed that out. The finish is a very nice, with nice depth and it's somewhere between a satin and a semi-gloss. Saturday I'll do the top with the same process and I'll be sure to get some pics! thanks everyone!

[Steven Wayne]

I just got a bunch of old growth redwood this weekend. I'm interested in how your project turned out.