ScoFF Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 I’m working with african mahogany doing a frame and I’m having trouble getting it to finish smooth. I haven’t worked with this type of wood before but I was hoping it would come solid and smooth like the Cuban mahogany statue I have sitting here. My experience with african mahogany is similar to the walnut box I made, it’s very open grained and rough when cut, the pours seemed like they could never be filled. I did a moulded profile for the frame and sanded it it as smooth as I could get it but it was still quite rough. I put on 3 spray coats of poly and sanded it in between coats hoping to fill in the pours and knock back the rough grain but it still feels the same. I have some Behlen grain filler I sometimes use but I didn’t want to have to tint this and fill in the grain since I’m leaving it a natural color. Any suggestions? I also have some dewaxed blonde shellac sanding sealer I could use but it’s a little late now since there’s 3-4 layers of poly now. Keep spraying and sanding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 i had a oak board similar to what your saying incredible changes in color and grain but the poors were ruff to the touch since they were so big. i ended up sanding it smooth then puting the entire board into the bathtub and soaking it till the grain flooded and swelled up. i then sanded again till i got the swelled grain off and smooth and when it dried it stayed smooth. might work try it with a small sample piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paoloberno Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 There are a lot of woods marketed as african mahogany (despite only the wood fron khaya genus should be labeled as african mahogany), does it have long pores similar to red oak? I see no alternative to spray & sand, the first sandings must be quite aggressive, you have to remove all the finish from the surface until you reach the wood surface leaving only the pores filled... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 You can use a shellac slurry. Bulls eye dewaxed sanding sealer diluted 1:1. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoFF Posted September 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 I sanded down a lot last night which was difficult to do because of the fancy profile I have. Lots of classic ogee, coves, round nose and points going on so I had to use the Lee Valley rubber form helpers to not kill the shape. It's smoother now with the sanding and two more spray coats but not done yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted September 7, 2011 Report Share Posted September 7, 2011 never used those i usualy just take a scrap wood and make a similar profile as the piece im using and glue the sand paper on the wood. then hand sand it takes longer but i realy love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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