what your finish schedule for Sapele?

A piece of Sapele spoke to me last week and ended up in my truck. I'm going to use it for an entryway table top. The table base is metal, something my wife commissioned years ago.

The table top doesn't get any wear, it just has a few pretty things on top of it, so durability isn't very important.

I don't want to darken the piece much if any more than it is, but wouldn't mind accentuating the grain a little.

Before I start my own experiments, I was curious what others have used on Sapele.

FWIW, my go-to finish is Arm-R-Seal, but I have some GF poly, tung oil, and BLO on the shelf.

Cheers,

Mark, I made some Sapele doors to match the trim in a house. I was trying to match the color so this may not be what you are after, but the process should work for nearly any color, including natural. I first sprayed the raw wood with yellow Transtint dye, then Sealcoat shellac, and then my topcoats of GF's EnduroVar.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/TY...g=w835-h626-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s...A=w835-h626-no

John

For kitchen cabinet refacing in the last house I used GF Endurovar. We moved a little over a year later and it held up to typical kitchen cabinet wear and tear. But the sapele darkened a bit, especially where the sun hit the directly during the day. I don't anything is going to prevent sapele from darkening.

This was taken in progress
http://julimorcreations.com/Images/K...en_halfway.jpg

This was just before we moved
http://julimorcreations.com/Images/K..._aplcorner.jpg

Thanks John and Julie for sharing. I don't mind if it darkens a bit, in fact I was a little surprised at how much it lightened up when I milled it. It went from a creamy amber-chocolate color to something closer to slightly aged white oak when I planed it.

FYI, the QS board of Sapele I initially purchased ended up having black stains that went all the way through the 4/4 boards. The black stains looked like something stickering on iron would make. I thought it was surficial, so I jointed and thicknessed and the stain was still there, so I resawed 1/8" and then 1/4" and the stain was still in the middle of the board. The stain was much lighter, but it still made the wood unusable for the project at hand.

The dealer let me exchange the board (which I returned in 5 milled pieces) for a new board that didn't have any stains. The only downside there was the 2 hour round trip drive.

This is my first experience of lumber showing a stain all the way through it.

Thanks everyone for the help. I ended up using the following schedule:

1) 2 light coats of rattle-less can shellac
2) GF Antique Walnut gel stain
3) 3 coats Arm R Seal semi
2) 2 coats Arm R Seal satin

Happy with the results. I really like this wood.

This was originally going to be an afternoon project, but the 16 finishing sample boards took a week.

Thanks again

That turned out nice, Mark. Matches well with the metal base. Kudos to your wife as well!

I'm about to finish a bench made of Sapele. I going to try 3 test pieces before committing. Straight Osmo PolyX, Osmo oil with Jatoba tint, and what Darrel Peart does with his furniture, brown orange stain, following by Sam Maloof's oil.

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Originally Posted by Mark Carlson

I'm about to finish a bench made of Sapele. I going to try 3 test pieces before committing. Straight Osmo PolyX, Osmo oil with Jatoba tint, and what Darrel Peart does with his furniture, brown orange stain, following by Sam Maloof's oil.

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Mark, it would be nice to see what you end up with if you have time to post a pic when you finish. I'll definitely be doing more work in Sapele in the future.

Mark, that regimen gave you a very nice look with the gel stain accentuating the pore structure, etc. Great job!

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Originally Posted by Jim Becker

Mark, that regimen gave you a very nice look with the gel stain accentuating the pore structure, etc. Great job!

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That was the strategy. Nice that it worked. I slightly preferred sanding the board after applying the gel stain, but it is challenging to do that evenly across a top this large, so this schedule got second place yet was the winner.

Mark, one thing I didn’t mention because I haven’t done this with Sapele, but a lot with mahogany, is start with a dark brown or reddish brown grain filler. I first give the piece a shellac wash coat, then filler, sand, 2nd filler, then sand, then seal with shellac and on to the finish coats. It does a nice job highlighting the pore without adding color to the main wood field.

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Originally Posted by Phil Mueller

Mark, one thing I didn’t mention because I haven’t done this with Sapele, but a lot with mahogany, is start with a dark brown or reddish brown grain filler. I first give the piece a shellac wash coat, then filler, sand, 2nd filler, then sand, then seal with shellac and on to the finish coats. It does a nice job highlighting the pore without adding color to the main wood field.

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Thanks Phil, that is exactly the look I was going for, I'll try yours on the next project :).

Very nice.

I hope the dog doesn't put his paws on it. Looks like he wouldn't have far to reach.:eek:

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Originally Posted by Kris Cook

Very nice.

I hope the dog doesn't put his paws on it. Looks like he wouldn't have far to reach.:eek:

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Yep, Abbie is a Great Dane puppy rescue. Still growing. She can reach from the front of the table over the back of it without lifting a paw. We're babysitting her.

She keeps lying her head on the kitchen counter when I'm making something, a very different experience from my 15 pound dog. She's fairly well behaved, but still under training, and came from a rescue home where she was spoiled. Has a small heart valve problem. I don't know if the original owner knew of the heart problem, or it is quite possible they couldn't afford to feed her. 8 cups a day is our target for her. Our little dog eats that much in 2 weeks.