Finishing question


darynk21

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Hi,

I have been a guild member for a while now but just recently signed up for the forums. I have a few years being a weekend warrior wood worker, and am looking forward to sharing ideas with the rest of the guild.

I am looking for advice regarding a bed I am building. The bed is made mostly of wenge and was looking for advise on how to finish the thing? I am looking for something that will be durable (it is for a kids room), and really bring out the character of the wood.

Thank you

Daryn

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Hey Daryn. I would suggest trying a few finishes out on scrap. The thing with wenge is that it tends to get really "muddy" once finish is applied. And you may lose some of the subtle light and dark brown streaks. I know I am usually disappointed in with I'm left with after finishing wenge with an oil finish. So if I were to do another wenge project, I might explore some other options in lacquer, shellac, and water-based materials. But definitely experiment a little on scrap so you know exactly what you're in for.

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  • 3 months later...

Hey Marc, thanks for the response. I did quite a bit of experimenting before I finally decided on shellac. I sanded the entire bed to 320, and then went over the entire thing with denatured alcohol, then I applied a clear shellac. It did darken the entire bed, but it didn't wash out all of the brown streaks.

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