bocote finishing


Craig Farnsworth

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Spent a  hour this am looking on how to's finish bocote.  I have a lazy susan made up with different types of wood.. One being Bocote.  Had used minwax sanding sealer that is good under water or oil base material.. Then applied Helmsman finish over top..  All the pcs dried cept the darn Bocote.  3 days later still tacky.. Called Min Wax people and told me to wipe with mineral spirits.  Since then I have experimented.  Found that Helmsman with added Japan drier will dry after about 8 hours.. Also the Helmsman spray satin dries in half that time.. Course the spray is thined I expect and will require more coats.

Just thought i would past that along.. Bocote like Cocobo all oily woods.. Have used Bocote numerous times in cutting boards but I oil them for food safe finish.

Two days later.... tacky but a wipe with Mineral spirits solves the problem and still leaves a coating.

After further testing it has using a hair drier will harden the surface of bocote.  I have used a heavy bottle resting on it at nite and no printing of bottle.  Also found that using Shellac will seal the bocote and allow poly urethane to dry within hours.  Next time will use shellac.  

 

Edited by Craig Farnsworth
more testing
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I have buffed and waxed Bocote to a very nice shine with no finish at all. My first idea would be a few quick thin coats of lacquer or shellac to seal the surface . Over that you should be able to use most finishes successfully. I would definitely do some samples. As expensive as Bocote is the back side of a board would be a good test location, the finish could easily be removed with a card scraper when you wanted to used the board on a project.

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  • 1 month later...

Just finished another piece using bocote.   A good coat of min wax water base sealer first and careful not to sand thru the finish.  Bingo..  Worked.  Several coats over with water base poly acrylic and a ok

as to question did I wipe down with acetone.  Yes for glueing up but not finish.  Now if only you could revert back to your younger years and still maintain what you have learned now

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Im wondering if when you first wiped the wood with acetone, it didn't fully flash off before you applied the MW sanding sealer? I think the MW sealer is water-based? If so, acetone is an aggressive solvent and doesn't play nice with water-based products. Thus, the sealer may of not sealed or it even dissolved the sealer.

Never used bocote, but I bet it's porus, so it makes sense the acetone went deep into the wood thus taking it longer to flash off, as it did, it attacked the sealer.

A better choice to clean wood before using a water-based anything, is 50/50 water and denatured alcohol.

 

-Ace-   

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