Ebony plugs/splines

[sefuller]

I am working on a mirror frame that is loosely based on a Greene and Greene design. I have watched Marc's video and read a few articles on pillowing the ends of ebony plugs, but I am wondering, since they talk about buffing and polishing the ends if they also get varnished with the rest of the piece? I am using blackwood instead of ebony, since I couldn't find any ebony locally that wasn't way more than I needed. Would I treat the blackwood the same as the ebony? It fairly hard, though probably not as hard as the ebony.

Thanks!

Scott

[AcornHouse]

I am working on a mirror frame that is loosely based on a Greene and Greene design. I have watched Marc's video and read a few articles on pillowing the ends of ebony plugs, but I am wondering, since they talk about buffing and polishing the ends if they also get varnished with the rest of the piece? I am using blackwood instead of ebony, since I couldn't find any ebony locally that wasn't way more than I needed. Would I treat the blackwood the same as the ebony? It fairly hard, though probably not as hard as the ebony.

Thanks!

Scott

I've used both ebony and Afr. Blackwood for plugs. They will both polish up nicely, because of the oils and the density. I have varnish over them without any trouble, but if they are plugging joinery (screws, etc.), then you could leave them out until after varnishing, and glue them in last. Just make sure to protect the hole inside with tape to have bare wood to glue to.

Varnishing over does give a very glossy, but very unwoodlike appearance, if you have too thick a coat of varnish. Using a wiping varnish, if you wipe off as much as you can from just the pegs, you be happy, I think.