Tung Oil finish on Cocobolo

Anything you can do to get the oily nature of Cocobolo out of the way will help for any kind of finish you put on there. However, the good benefits of Tung (I'm assuming you're meaning Pure Tung Oil) won't go far on this kind of wood. It won't penetrate much and what little it does will be interferred with by the Cocobolo's oil. It's also going to take a longer time for that Tung to dry/harden than it normally does. Tung also won't do a whole lot to "pop" the grain on Cocobolo. It does great with many woods and spalting especially but not better than other oils/finishes on Cocobolo.

Why is Tung your choice for the stoppers?

If you're going to use Tung, do go ahead and cut that Cocobolo oil with the acetone and then flood the Tung on there and keep it wet for a good 15 minutes before wiping off.

- Andrew

Yes, you have to do something special. Do not finish dark exotics with oil of any kind. You will regret it.

Tung oil is usually some tung oil and vernish, BTW. Very seldom do you see straight tung oil and when you do, it isn't very useful by itself.

Back to the subject...

These woods tend to go dark over time and become less attractive. Using oil speeds up the process.

I suggest that you use a shellac finish (u-beaut shellawax), a lacquer such as a turners finish or Deft, the Beale system which uses a hard wax,... Anything without oil.

Bill

As others have said, if you put any oil on these dark exotics, you will only hasten the inevitable darkening. My most recent favorite finish for these oily tropical woods is 1 or more coats of Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax. I _believe_ it is a harder wax than Johnson's paste wax, and it has a very brilliant, hard shine.

It is imperative that you let the wax dry before buffing, though, or you won't get any shine out of it.

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I am turning some wine bottle stoppers out of Cocobolo and want to

For the wine stopper application Briwax clear works great on cocobolo. Sand the wood up to 600 grit and apply the Briwax with the lathe running. Try it you'll like it.

Basil Kelsey Ypsilanti, Mi.

Hi, The recommendation in this thread is not to use oil on dark exotic woods, as it hastens the darkening. What is wrong with the wood darkening, does it obscure the grain and figure? Would you offer the same advice for dark domestic woods such as walnut? (never mind that one persons exotic is another's domestic) Thanks Martin

It seems to me that what you are paying for in cocobolo are the beautiful contrasting colors. As it darkens the contrasts diminish. So you are defeating the purpose of using cocobolo. And, yes, it also obscures the grain.

That said, I would use an oil finish on walnut -- it just doesn't have the wide pallet of colors and people expect it to be darker than it really is.

Bill

Try wet sanding above 400 grit. I generally wet sand to 2500 and the shine is awesome. Just keep in mind that any clothing stained by the sanding slurry will be permanently stained and will stain everything else in thw wash load (DAMHIK).

Peter Teubel Milford, MA