BLO and string banding

[Larry Fox]

I will soon be starting a project that involves some inlay and I am looking for some “how-to” help on the finishing. It will be a table with a bubinga-veneer center of about 20”x20” and a walnut border of about 3” surrounding it. I would like to add a inlayed band separating the veneer and walnut. I have the construction details covered (including the inlay) but one aspect of the finish is stumping me a bit. Both the bubinga and the walnut will get an application or so of BLO and have the pores filled. Final topcoat will be either French-polish or WL lacquer rubbed out to a high gloss. If I go the WB route I will put a coat of dewaxed shellac between the BLO and topcoat.

Now my problem, I don’t want to put BLO on the banding. It is fairly wide (~21/32) and really, really pretty and I want to keep the vibrant colors and I think putting BLO on them would “muddy” them too much. One approach could be to scrape and sand the panel, apply the BLO, cut the groove for the inlay, glue it in, level it and topcoat. Problem is that I don’t know how I would level the inlay with the panel without needing to reapply BLO to at least some of the area due to the scraping / sanding of the inlay. I also have some concerns about adhesion at the edges of the inlay with the BLO going this route although these concerns might be misplaced. If I put the inlay in first, I don’t know how I will keep the BLO from bleeding over into the inlay.

Does anyone have any ideas or have tackled this problem in the past and be willing to share thoughts or suggestions? Thanks in advance for your time and apologies if this has been asked in the past.

[Steve Schoene]

What wood is the inlayed band?

[Larry Fox]

Steve, thanks for the reply. Below is a link to the actual inlay. Hope it helps and would love to tap into your experience on this one.

http://inlays.com/461_Tulipwood_Braz...nlay_Strip.asp

[Roger Myers]

What I have done is before any application of any finish to the main surfaces, using smaller artist brushes, apply a coat of de-waxed shellac (SealCoat is excellent for this) to all of the inlay. You can apply a few coats (3-4) to the inlay, and this protects it from any coloration from the BLO or other finishes.. seems like it would be time consuming, but really it is pretty easy to apply, shellac dries very fast so you can recoat quickly, and if you are sure to use de-waxed, then topcoats over this are no problem.

Roger

[Larry Fox]

Roger - thanks for the reply. That had occured to me but I was wondering about "bleed" from the adjacent wood. I see how it would block it from the top but given that there is some penetration of the oil into the wood (however slight) have you seen any creep in from the side and spoil the inlay?

[Steve Schoene]

I think the shellac seal will likely work pretty well. If your tests on samples reveal any bleed, and I doubt it will, just be sure to moderate the amount of BLO you use. You only need one very light coating--just barely enough to wet out the surface. Beyond that will make no difference as far as highlighting grain. For a table of your size that's about a thimbleful of BLO spread thinnly.

[Larry Fox]

Thanks Steve and Roger - I will give it a shot on a test board.