Open grained woods

Any advice or suggestions for open grained woods? Padauk Cocobola etc. What are people using to close the grain? What looks best open or closed? Any comments or thoughts.

for a dark wood i have been digging tung oil, its nice and easy to work with and also makes a great open finish. just my 2 cents

Tung oil is usually my go to finish, I like the natural luster.

it also available in hoss and low goss

One of the ways to close the grain is to apply a light coat of varnish or tung oil and the sand with a fine wet/dry sand paper. The slurry will fill the pors with the same color as the wood and the varnish/oil will seal the surface. Once the desired filling has been met, allow the wood to dry completely for a couple of days and then finish as you desire.

Lewis

lewis very interesting i may have to try that.

Pore filler may also be used. You can color it as desired if it doesn't already come in the color you want.

For oil based fillers, color with oil paints or japan color.
For water based, color with acrylic paint, dye or ink.

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Originally Posted by jballs918

it also available in hoss and low goss

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You must be talking about the Tung Oil like Formby's or those Tung Oil cans you buy at your local brick and mortar store cause 100% pure tung oil doesn't come in low or high gloss.

There's a huge difference in 100% pure Tung Oil compared to the commercially sold Tung Oil which is actually a generic term which has been liberally borrowed by paint-and-varnish makers to describe the expected result of using their preparations — which may or may not actually contain any tung oil at all..

I use gun oil finish, it work really well

There are products specifically designed to seal wood prior to finishing. They are called sanding sealers. Here's one that looks pretty good: Buy SealCoat Universal Sanding Sealer, 1 Quart, SealCoat Universal Sanding

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Originally Posted by icedog

There are products specifically designed to seal wood prior to finishing. They are called sanding sealers. Here's one that looks pretty good: Buy SealCoat Universal Sanding Sealer, 1 Quart, SealCoat Universal Sanding

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That is shellac with a retarder.


Sealers don't work so well on porous woods like oak, mahogany and walnut. You really need to fill with a filler or an oil slurry as was mentioned.

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Originally Posted by floppyshoes

That is shellac with a retarder.


Sealers don't work so well on porous woods like oak, mahogany and walnut. You really need to fill with a filler or an oil slurry as was mentioned.

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That's interesting Dan, in the product description it says exactly the opposite:
It seals all types of wood including oak, maple, chestnut, mahogany, walnut, birch, poplar, cherry, exotic woods, etc.

But I am not going to argue.

Brad

When I woodwork with oaks, mahoganys, etc., I use a Benjamin Moore grain filler - it's quite inexpensive, and does a very good job. That said, I heard recently on a woodworking forum that they are about to discontinue the product...

Hope that helped even a bit.

Mark

P.s. FWIW, I like the look of open grain...and the CA I use to seal it usually will create an even surface after the first coat or two...

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Originally Posted by icedog

That's interesting Dan, in the product description it says exactly the opposite:
It seals all types of wood including oak, maple, chestnut, mahogany, walnut, birch, poplar, cherry, exotic woods, etc.

But I am not going to argue.

Brad

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I never said they don't work, they just don't work well. You'll seal the grain, but the pores will still need considerable topcoating to fill in. To keep the topcoat as thin as possible and reduce the time and energy needed in the rub-out, certain woods need additional filling. Also, depending on if/how you've colored the wood, shellac is not the best option for sealing. If you've used an alcohol based dye or non grain-raising (NGR) stain, you have to use a glue size sealer so that the dye doesn't bleed out.

This is all assuming you want a flat topcoat. If you like the grain and pores to show in your topcoat then a simple coat of the sealer you linked to would be more than adequate for most products (except alcohol dyes and NGR stains like I said).

With regards to the Benjamin Moore pore filler being discontinued, that sucks. I'm a fan of the minwax stuff but I've heard good things about BM's.

I think that Seal coat is a great product for any type wood. It will work fine on over ngr or alcohol dyes.


I do not believe that wet sanding with oil will fill the pores. If anybody can wet sand enough to fill the pores in a ring porous wood such as oak or ash I would be very impressed.


Luckily you don't need to do pore filled finishes on ring porous woods very often.


This is my day to be contrary.

Charlie