Issues with finishing Bocate

MonteG | Posted in Finishing on April 16, 2024 04:32pm

I made a live edge slab table out of Bocate and the finishing didn’t go very well. I used BLO, and then tried to cover with General Finishes oil based urethane. The BLO went great, but the varnish just would not dry. I gave it several days, and ended up taking it off with mineral spirits. I really like Bocate and have made many smaller items using it like boxes and such, but never needed urethane on it before. Is water based varnish an option? It is a table and needs better protection than just BLO. Thoughts?

Replies

john_c2 | Apr 17, 2024 08:00am | #1
BLO needs a long time to cure. My guess is it wasn't when you added the top coat.

Give it a couple of weeks to cure. I'd think about a coat or two of dewaxed shellac before doing any other top coat.
mrossk | Apr 17, 2024 10:11am | #2
Water Based is certainly an option. I've done it. But it doesn't do anything to pop the bocote, which in this case may be to your advantage. IMO, bocote darkens too much with oil. (This is water-based Miniwax on the bocote with oiled ash)
bilyo | Apr 17, 2024 02:14pm | #3
I must ask why you are using BLO. As mentioned, it takes a very long time to cure (some say it never does). Applying oil based poly directly to the sanded barre bocote should give good results without the muss and fuss. If you must start with a penetrating oil, use danish oil. It has driers in it and should be ready to re-coat in a couple of days at most.
pantalones868 | Apr 18, 2024 05:11am | #4
Your applying oil to achieve a look to or a tone to your bocote that is to your taste and that's fine but bocote is a dense naturally oily wood. It would stand to reason that any oil applied would take longer to penetrate and/ or to dry than on a softer more porous wood. I'm of the opinion that applying oil to naturally occurring oily woods like dalbergias or teak may actually be destructive to some extent. The evaporation process of the applied oil could possibly take some of the woods natural oil away with it as it dries. It's just a theory, honestly I don't know it for a fact but I do know that I ve handled some pretty old tropical hardwood things, like guitars , Stanley tool handles ,and the wood has still retained its oiliness after many ,many years. At best I don't think that oiling does much for protection and possibly just the opposite. When gluing that type of wood it's common to wipe the joining surfaces with acetone to remove the oil so that the glue gets a chance to bond. If you clean the joint today and tried to glue tomorrow it doesn't work, that surface will be oily again.