Replies

1. 
   booch | Mar 18, 2003 03:12am | #1

   That stuff is impenetrable. i just watco it and it looks fine. I've got a couple of pieces with only that on it and it looks like newly finished.

   How do your fingers look? It takes a week or so to lose/wear out the stain in your fingers from the wood.

   Jack of all trades and master of none - you got a problem with that?

   
   

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   Edited 3/17/2003 8:12:38 PM ET by Booch

1. 
   Dave1 | Mar 18, 2003 04:36am | #2

   thanks for the reply.  I did a sample with Watco, but the wood wasnt sanded.  I'll try again.

   My fingers are full of splinters. 

   This is the first time I have cut mortices and tenons.  I don't know if wenge is particularly difficult, but there must be a better way. 

   Still learning.

   Dave

1. 
   booch | Mar 18, 2003 02:03pm | #3

   Mortices Are easier if you buy a morticing bit for your drill press. You could buy the stand alone Mortice tool as an option but It is a lot more money. The drill press option is quick and painless. From there I use a tablesaw to cut the tenons by using the fence to determine the shoulder and the depth of the blade to determine how much wood to remove. Then just cut with the miter until you have made your mortice. Clean up the tenon with a chisel and you are done. Fit em, glue em and sand to level the faces.

   Chiseling out a mortice in the brittle wood of wenge is a hard job. If you use a brad point bit to drill out the centers of the mortices first, then trim out to your marks it is a bit quicker. Mortices are easier by hand if you have a softer wood with minimal grain. Cherry or Maple are my favorites to hand tool. Oak is a bit stringy but still cuts nicely with a chisel. Wenge is a bugger but it is a wood that I can remember every project I've used it on. I hand tooled a cane once from that with an ebony head and it still is my favorite piece. It hurts every time the kids want to use it for a stage prop.

   Take heart on the morticing, the first time you try anything it is slow and arduous. The 2nd time you are twice as fast but it still is a pain. Learning is exciting but as soon as you have to be judged on your work the project slows even further. That is why Mahler left his unfinished symphony in my opinion. He realized he had a masterpiece until he finished it. (pure speculation) Woodworking is a lot like that.

   I'm trying to forge the Nike Logo in my life  JUST DO IT! Far easier said than done. I've lots of unfinished sonnets in my shop. Kinda clogs up the works.Jack of all trades and master of none - you got a problem with that?

2. 
   Jamie_Buxton | Mar 18, 2003 10:03pm | #4

   Consider applying no finish at all to the wenge.   That stuff can be polished to a shiny gloss.  Just sand with finer and finer sandpaper.