Six months ago I made a cabinet out of curly cherry and was very
disappointed by the results. It is pretty, but the curl is much less
prominent than I expected; it showed up more as dark patterns then as
figure.
I posted here, and was told that curly cherry simply didn't show up like
curly maple.

A few months ago I made a box out of pomelle bubinga and was also
disappointed by the results; finished with BLO like the cherry. Beautiful
wood, but not extraordinary. Using the same wood for another project, I
found that the bubinga had superb curl when I cleaned it with mineral
spirits. I put 7 applications of wipe on poly over the oil on my box and it
looks wonderful. The curl is now extraordinary.

So, that has me thinking about the curly cherry. It is a large piece so I
can't just play with it, and I don't have any wood from that material to
experiment on. If it will bring up the curl (and yes, I have seen curly
cherry that looked like good curly maple so I know that my results aren't
the best) I am certainly willing to refinish it; but don't want to rec it.

Anyone know about this?

To accentuate figure I am learning that you need the highest
reflectivity you can get. So super flat sanding and clear gloss.

The one thing I haven't yet "figured" out is, should you oil the wood
first. Intuitively, it seems the oil would add some reflectivity within
the wood, that "deeper" finish concept. However, I wonder if oil
penetrates to well and flattens the figure by lessining the contrast.

BW

Answering my own question, reading on Jeff Jewitt's sight he recommends
using oil to enhance the curl. So that's settles it for me.

I made a blanket chest for my DIL, using curly maple for the panels. Sanded
to 220 and applied tung oil, diluted by half with mineral spirits. The
figure came to life, and you cannot look at it and see a flat surface, even
though it is flat. Maybe the mineral spirits is the secret.

Steve

"SonomaProducts.com" wrote in message
oups.com...
Answering my own question, reading on Jeff Jewitt's sight he recommends
using oil to enhance the curl. So that's settles it for me.

"Steve Peterson" wrote in message
I made a blanket chest for my DIL, using curly maple for the panels.
Sanded
to 220 and applied tung oil, diluted by half with mineral spirits. The
figure came to life, and you cannot look at it and see a flat surface,
even
though it is flat. Maybe the mineral spirits is the secret.

Nope ... the secret is labeling the container "tung oil", on tape, with
marks-a-lot, even if that is not what it contains.

Just ask David J. Marks.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/17/05

"SonomaProducts.com" wrote in message
oups.com...
To accentuate figure I am learning that you need the highest
reflectivity you can get. So super flat sanding and clear gloss.

The one thing I haven't yet "figured" out is, should you oil the wood
first. Intuitively, it seems the oil would add some reflectivity within
the wood, that "deeper" finish concept. However, I wonder if oil
penetrates to well and flattens the figure by lessining the contrast.


I use the wipe-on Poly a lot. Does a good job revealing curl. Guess that
has oil and plenty of mineral spirits.

Of course, Shellac, well rubbed and buffed, does splendidly as well. Think
it has more to do with no scatter in the finish itself than anything else.

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 16:50:10 GMT, "Toller" wrote:

Six months ago I made a cabinet out of curly cherry and was very
disappointed by the results. It is pretty, but the curl is much less
prominent than I expected; it showed up more as dark patterns then as
figure.
I posted here, and was told that curly cherry simply didn't show up like
curly maple.

.... snip
So, that has me thinking about the curly cherry. It is a large piece so I
can't just play with it, and I don't have any wood from that material to
experiment on. If it will bring up the curl (and yes, I have seen curly
cherry that looked like good curly maple so I know that my results aren't
the best) I am certainly willing to refinish it; but don't want to rec it.

Anyone know about this?


I've had very good luck with polymerized tung oi (Mosers from WWS)l. The
sealer seems to bring out the figure, the PTO preserves and enhances it.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

David's tung oil doesn't contain ANY tung oil? Hmmmm.



"Swingman" wrote in message
...
"Steve Peterson" wrote in message
I made a blanket chest for my DIL, using curly maple for the panels.
Sanded
to 220 and applied tung oil, diluted by half with mineral spirits. The
figure came to life, and you cannot look at it and see a flat surface,
even
though it is flat. Maybe the mineral spirits is the secret.

Nope ... the secret is labeling the container "tung oil", on tape, with
marks-a-lot, even if that is not what it contains.

Just ask David J. Marks.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/17/05

"George" George@least wrote in message
...

"SonomaProducts.com" wrote in message
oups.com...
To accentuate figure I am learning that you need the highest
reflectivity you can get. So super flat sanding and clear gloss.

The one thing I haven't yet "figured" out is, should you oil the wood
first. Intuitively, it seems the oil would add some reflectivity within
the wood, that "deeper" finish concept. However, I wonder if oil
penetrates to well and flattens the figure by lessining the contrast.


I use the wipe-on Poly a lot. Does a good job revealing curl. Guess that
has oil and plenty of mineral spirits.

Yep. It's not 100% polyurethane. Just like David Marks Tung Oil isn't
100% Tung Oil.





Of course, Shellac, well rubbed and buffed, does splendidly as well.
Think it has more to do with no scatter in the finish itself than anything
else.

On Sat 01 Oct 2005 01:16:18p, "stoutman" .@. wrote in news:SnA%e.77068
:

David's tung oil doesn't contain ANY tung oil? Hmmmm.



No. He uses General Finishes, and apparently they USED to be part tung oil
but they changed their formula some time ago. It's on his website. I agree
with Dave though, it's good stuff.

I've been using General for my last two projects and I think I'm getting
the hang of it. I like it. One coat Seal-a-Cell and three or four coats of
Armr Seal. When I was learning, I got an okay finish that everybody liked.
After I got better, even _I_ liked the way it turned out. :-)

It's brought out the figure on the red leaf maple kitchen table I did for
my mother in law, and the curly koa plaque we're using to hold the robe
hooks on the bathroom door looks absolutely fantastic. I've tried the satin
and semi gloss. Semi gloss brought out the figure better, I thought.
High gloss next.