Replies

1. 
   _mj_ | Jul 12, 2022 08:26am | #1

   If it has those spots on both sides it's the way the tree grew. A pass or two through the planer will tell you if it is on the wood or in the wood. On the wood is a stain to be removed. In the wood is figure to be celebrated. A wipe with a damp rag will give you an idea of how it will look under finish.

2. 
   pantalones868 | Jul 13, 2022 06:05am | #2

   Is that board as gray as I'm seeing on my screen? Jacopa starts out gray and will darken after it's milled. I'm thinking that those spots are in, not on the wood. If you set your Jacopa board out in the sun it will darken and maybe in only a few hours and hopefully bring some of the red out. If that is sapwood maybe not. I don't know if the darkening will help or not but I can see your problem. That is to be a top for a coffeetable and those spots and their pattern look very much like someone spilled the coffee! While naturally occurring blemishes in wood are to be "celebrated" maybe not in this case for this application. It's a long way from "I've got me a piece a wood,I think I'll build me a table" to having built the table. You have a much bigger investment in a completed project than you do now. If I couldn't satisfactorily solve that problem I would not use that board for my top unless you like the marks- which clearly you do not. If those marks are in and through the wood I don't know how chemistry can fix it. You won't know how visible those marks are until you put a finish on it.

3. 
   beasleysevin | Jul 14, 2022 09:09pm | #3

   I have worked with Jatoba - I don't like it. It is a very hard wood; 2350 on the Janka scale (Hard Maple is 1450). I mention this because you have to use really high quality sandpaper and sand longer than normal. Try drawing lines on the wood and sanding them off. That will give you a feel for how much sanding you need to do. The Jatoba I worked with had spots like those. They sanded out. You can see the finished product on the Seasonal Display Clock here> https://beasleysevindesigns.com/live-edge-clocks/