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Thread: Help with Wenge

  1. #1

    Help with Wenge

    I just turned a pen using a Wenge blank, the pen looks great except for the little "holes" that have shown up. Do you fill these with something, if so, what do you use or is this just a characteristic of the wood?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Mesa, Arizona
    Posts
    1,798

    Try sanding sealer.

    No, you don't have to fill the pores in open grained wood, like wenge, walnut, or oak. Unless you want a high gloss film finish. To fill the pores, you can try two or three coats of sanding sealer (I use lacquer) that is then sanded down to the bare wood. Another approach is to fill the pores with a commercial grain filler. Either way, you'll end up with a flat surface that you can then cover with your film finish of choice (CA, poly, lacquer, shellac, etc.).

    Good luck!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Goodland, Kansas
    Posts
    22,605
    Unless I want a smooth surface I let them alone. I like the natural feel of the wood myself. If I do want it smooth I do like David has suggested.
    Bernie

    Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

    To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone.



  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Portland, Oregon
    Posts
    49

    Another approach

    My favorite method to seal porous woods is to wet sand with BLO. I usually do this once I sand up to 320, then just add BLO to the sand paper and sand away. It will leave a nice smooth finish and no worries about color matching.

    Good luck
    "The cup of life's for him that drinks, and not for him that sips" - Robert Louis Stevenson

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Roanoke, Illinois
    Posts
    863
    I have had the most success by wet sanding with thin CA glue. It is kind of tricky but once you master the technique you will be very pleased with the results. I sand with a folded piece 220 paper about 1 1/2 inch wide and build up a little dust. With the lathe running slow enough so as not to sling CA all over yourself the paper under the pen blank and squirt some CA on the paper where the paper and blank meet. Keep the CA right there as you will have to add more as you go across the blank. You are trying to build a small amount of slurry so the pores will fill but not so much you have to spend a lot of time getting the blank leveled again with lots of sanding. Good luck.

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