I turned a handle out of Ziricote and put a coat of Tru Oil on it. It will not dry! I have read that some woods are too oily for some finishes. Any of you wood guys know what I should put on it to get a nice finish?

William Cunningham Wrote:
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> I turned a handle out of Ziricote and put a coat
> of Tru Oil on it. It will not dry!

I don't know who (Tom?) to give credit to for the following but I'm pretty sure it came off this site.

You cannot apply finishes to many woods in the rosewood family, as they are so highly resinous that nothing can adhere or dry on them.

But it can be done, if you know the trick (you must not read RodMaker Magazine). Take your cocobolo insert/s and dunk them in a container of denatured solvent alcohol. Let them sit in the stuff for a couple hours. Then rinse with a fresh wash of new alcohol. Let dry overnight. You'll notice the wood will be much lighter in weight and color, as much of the resin has now been removed.

Apply your Tru-Oil in the usual fashion and you'll find that your cocobolo now handles and finishes just like any other wood.

Hhmmmmmmmmmm. I Epoxied over Cocobolo and had no problems. Turned out great.

I also used Watco oil and Carnuba(sp) wax and that was fine also.


2 cents worth

lae

I use a lot of exotic woods,some take finish very well,ceder ,oak,bubinga,Maple,and osage orange for example ,will work well with a few coats of Helmsman Spar Urethane.Someother woods are known as bleeders such as Zicote,Cocobolo Rosewood,Padauk,and Lignum ,just to name a few.Allways try the finish on a srap piece first.However,the thing I found that works on any wood ,so far, is to finish right on the lathe with Lacquer based Friction Sealer first than Lacquer Friction Polish on top.Your done and it's dry before you can shut off your lathe. Penn State Industries and other pen making supply places have the laquer and shellac friction polish.Please note that you can start with shellac and finish with laquer,but if you start with laquer you must finish with laquer.Any other type of finish on top of laquer can give you problems.Also note,better use a dust mask while turning and sanding these exotic woods because we in the U.S.A. are not use to them and I know for a fact that they can put you in the hospital if the dust gets in the lungs.

I did a cocobolo seat and handle in tru oil and the first coat dried fine. A second coat refused to dry even after 3 weeks. I wiped it off with dna on a rag and like the resulting satin finish. I did use EEE wax when turning it on the lathe so that may have had an effect.

Tony

Another thing to think about with the rosewood family is to not use any finish. Progress through really, really fine grit (2000+) paper and then polish.