Hi,
Apologies if this has been asked a million times, did a quick search and did not see anything relevant off the bat. I'm fairly new at woodworking and may have bitten off more than I can chew with this project. Atached is a picture of the blank that I've glued up. It is curly maple with walnut strips and a piece of bloodwood in the center. The finished product - a clock - will be oriented vertically as in the picture. The top will be bandsawed to match the radius of the clock insert.
The problem - I would like an oil finish to show off the curly maple, but what do I do with the end grain on the top? I tried the oil finish on a test piece cut to the approximate shape and it looked awful. I then tried a water-based sanding sealer on the end grain but that alone also looked pretty bad. I have not tried shellac due to the presence of the bloodwood (alcohol apparently makes the red bloodwood pigment run) or any other type of sealer yet.
There's -got- to be a way to make this look right.
Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Pics attached. Thanks!
-BobAttachment 462515Attachment 462518Attachment 462517