I wouldn't recommend an oil finish without trying it first!
Hello Jack!
Happy New Year!
What an exceptional piece of wood!! (....the hollow form ain't bad either! 😉 )
My experience of with redwood is limited to a few bowls and one HF turned from a very old piece of redwood log section (...with about 160 growth rings!) that was about 20" in diameter and 4' high that had been sitting around in one of our Biology teaching labs for who knows how long. It had to go, and I volunteered to take the log and do something with it.
I can recommend that you do NOT use any oil finish without trying it on a sample/scrap first - for me, it darkened the wood far too much (I used Watco "natural"; it probably would have been even worse with boiled linseed oil, and maybe even tung oil). The oil changed the wood from its vibrant red color when turned and sanded, to a dark, reddish muddy brown. In your case, it seems this piece of wood has so much more figure than the redwood I've used that an oil may help the figure to "pop" even more than you've shown us, but I would experiment on a scrap piece first before potentially ruining a stunning piece. It may not need much more than a nice clear finish.
Light colored shellac and/or a clear lacquer finish might preserve and accentuate the excellent figure and color contrasts in this piece without flattening them out.
Please let us know what you decide to use and what your finishing recommendations are.
Rob Wallace
