Finish for Sepele Wood

[Aaron Cain]

Hey Guys,

I am making a kitchen table out of quartersawn Sepele. I noticed that it is an extremely open pored wood. Does anyone have any suggestions on how or what to fill the pores with and preserve the ribbon like figure. I really want the figure to jump off the table and I figure I have a better chance to accomplish this by filling the pores. I considered sanding in the finish but I have never done this before and am not quite sure what to use.

Thanks
Aaron

[Joe Jensen]

I've used a lot of Sapele and I'm a fiend for preserving the irridescence of the figure. For future reference, that property is called "chatoyance". Stains and colored grain/pore fillers are pigment based. Essentially they grind up colored minerals and put them in a solvent carrier. DON"T use any stain or pigmented products. If you need color, use dye to color the wood. As to filing the grain, you can get clear pore filler. Use that. Here is the flow. Dye first, then fill with clear pore filler. Top coat after...joe

[Scott Holmes]

I would fill with super blonde shellac... 2# cut 3 coats 45 minutes apart then sand it back to bare wood leaving the shellac only "in" the grain. You now have a hard, stable, optically clear, color fast, "fill".

If you want a little more color you can use one of the darker shellacs.