Thread: Hardwood and finish question - Family Woodworking

I need some guidance here please.

The inlay i made to my bench is bloodwood. In my limited experience this wood is so hard it fits into that category of hardwoods like Jatoba where the density is so tight it makes for real fine dust when cutting and the wood is what i would almost describe as brittle. Cracks very quickly.

So i thought to copy some of you who have treated your workbench in blo and mineral spirits.

Anyhow mixed a 50/50 mix thinking that the thin liquid would quickly penetrate the whole top of my bench and that would be that.

Well yes except for the bloodwood. It probably has "penetrated some but it also seems to just have settled on the top and made a shiny film over the bloodwood as if i had sealed it with a varnish.

Now given this is a work surface thats not going to stay there long in fact i will remove it when its dry. But it did bring up the whole issue to me of understanding how woods like Bloodwood get finished or what treatment to use for finishing this kind of super dense wood.

When i cut this wood on my bandsaw and later on the router the powder it creates is like no other wood. Obviously worse because its red so you see it easier but wow its a very different kind of sawdust. It really is dust rather than tiny woodchip.

So how would you have treated this flat sawn piece of bloodwood to get it to absorb any finish.?

By comparison i have walnut and oak and ash all on the same bench and none had any issue with the blo/mineral spirit mix. They have all absorbed it well and darkened nicely.

Source: http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?28097-Hardwood-and-finish-question

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