Black Limba question

[Mike Vickery]

A question for anyone that is experienced with Black Limba. I turned a bowl yesterday and after getting it down the 1/8 I notice some cracks on the side. At first I figured it was my fault ( as usuall). But I decided to put a little Oil on it to get an idea of what the figure looked like, I noticed that where the endgrain was cut the BLO actually soaked right through to the inside of the bowl. Is Black Limba just a bad choice for thinner vessels or is this an anomilly.

[Cecil Arnold]

Mike, its been over a year since I turned a black Limba bowl (only one) but IIRC it was a pleasure to turn and I had no problems with the finish. I did turn it to 1/4-3/8" but don't recall any end grain issues.

[Michael Stafford]

I have no specific experience with black limba but lots of woods with open pored structure such as oak will easily bleed finish through end grain. I experience this all the time when I turn the bottom or top of end grain boxes too thin, leaving little dried beads of finish on the interior surface if I don't remember to rub them out before they dry.

[Bernie Weishapl]

When I get the bowl sides down to 1/8" on some woods I have more cracks it seems like. I use thin CA on them, let it dry and then sand before I put finish on them.