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Finish for Tasmanian blackwood

Jamie Straw

Jamie Straw

Joined
May 28, 2015
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Location
Bainbridge Island, WA
I've turned an ~9" platter from Tasmanian blackwood that has some nice figure and I'd like to pop that figure. Pure tung oil (Hope's) seems like the obvious choice (time-consuming, I know) and it would be food safe. Any other suggestions?

Also, any application tips are welcome. Though the basics of a tung oil finish are clear to me, I'd love some veteran tips.
 
OB poly will pop the grain as well as oil, and dry much faster. Most of my aaw forum gallery pieces are finished with it. Thin 1:1 and apply like oil - flood on, keep wet for 20-30 min, wipe off. I sand to 600gr before applying. More coats can add to gloss level but one coat buffed after drying is usually enough. Typically use minwax helmsman, but regular poly works also.
 
Thanks, Doug, I've been a little hung up on "food safe but I read now that the FDA considers thoroughly dried film finish to be OK. I only sell once/year, but some of those patrons are pretty serious about the definition of" food safe."
 
The Tasmanian Blackwood I’m familiar with - aka black acacia or california koa - responds very well to just about any oil or film finish. I’ve used general’s wood bowl finish, wipe on poly, and Osmo top oil on pieces I’ve done. Finished with wax and buff a little on some, but I prefer a softer finish for the mostly utility items I’ve made. Just returned from a trip to California with a few rounds (debarked) courtesy of a good friend. Looking forward to diving in on it. I enjoy turning it and it machines well. It’s all food safe when we’ll cured…
 
If you like tung oil, d-limonene as the diluent works well, smells nice, and is food safe. If your customers are fussy, walnut oil or tung oil are likely to be most well received, and using a biologic product like d-limonene would be frosting on the organic vegan cake. As for use, I'll take 2 or 3 parts pure tung oil and mix with 1 part d-limonene. People say you get better 'penetration' with a first coat of 1:1, but I can't tell a difference. Wipe on a good amount, keep moist for 5 minutes, wipe off the excess. Maybe repeat a second time, but leaving it on longer or doing more than one coat risks having the oil seep back out of the wood and take forever to cure, neither desirable results. Somebody suggested oils might cure faster in warm, sunny circumstances, but I didn't make anything this summer to try it to find out. You could give that a go, maybe those 3 sunny days you get in mid-July. ;)
 
For me, to be totally 'food safe' that means I have to be able to eat it straight out of the can. That limits me to walnut oil. I did try mineral oil and didn't like it since it offered no real protection. I have heard of using grape seed oil and hemp oil. Not sure how coconut oil would work. The problem with a lot of 'natural' oils is that they don't polymerize. You can do that with vegetable oils if you heat them properly, like what you do for your cast iron pots and pans. I did chat with one woman who was sensitive to some of the commercial drying agents in the polymer type finishes and she said they still bothered her after they were supposed to be 'inert materials'. When I first started turning, many said don't use olive oil because it would go rancid. As near as I can tell, if you leave it on the surface of the wood and it starts to build up, then it can go rancid. If you keep the build up off, and the bowl clean, this is not a problem. Never had a chance to play with Tasmanian Blackwood..... Yet!

robo hippy
 
JeffSmith said:
The Tasmanian Blackwood I’m familiar with - aka black acacia or california koa ...
Click to expand...

The Blackwood from Tasmania is the same species of acacia that grows anywhere else in Australia. It is one of the main woods that I turn. Its botanical name is Acacia melanoxylon. I use a bee & carnauba wax finish, but its grain will pop whatever you use as a finish...

Blackwood platter 9.5in.JPG​
 
robo hippy said:
For me, to be totally 'food safe' that means I have to be able to eat it straight out of the can. That limits me to walnut oil. I did try mineral oil and didn't like it since it offered no real protection. I have heard of using grape seed oil and hemp oil. Not sure how coconut oil would work. The problem with a lot of 'natural' oils is that they don't polymerize. You can do that with vegetable oils if you heat them properly, like what you do for your cast iron pots and pans. I did chat with one woman who was sensitive to some of the commercial drying agents in the polymer type finishes and she said they still bothered her after they were supposed to be 'inert materials'. When I first started turning, many said don't use olive oil because it would go rancid. As near as I can tell, if you leave it on the surface of the wood and it starts to build up, then it can go rancid. If you keep the build up off, and the bowl clean, this is not a problem. Never had a chance to play with Tasmanian Blackwood..... Yet!

robo hippy
Click to expand...
Thank, Reed. I doubt this little platter would have much food use, especially not the kind your big salad bowls do! There's one company that produces boiled linseed oil that actually heat treats it with no drying agents. Last year, they we're out of stock, so I need to re-find them and check again.
 
Jamie Straw said:
Thank, Reed. I doubt this little platter would have much food use, especially not the kind your big salad bowls do! There's one company that produces boiled linseed oil that actually heat treats it with no drying agents. Last year, they we're out of stock, so I need to re-find them and check again.
Click to expand...
Here’s the linseed oil without dryers. I haven’t used enough of it to form an opinion yet

 
Tried & True makes a polymerized linseed oil - also just pure plain ol' lineseed oil, heated to polymerize it for quicker dry time, but no additives. And yes, Linseed oil is basically just the same as Flaxseed oil supplements you may find in a pharmacy, only difference being the flaxseed oil is more purified and extracted by a different process (it is cold pressed) - but both oils, despite their name come from the very useful Flax plant, which also is used in making linen fabric.
 
Jamie, I have used copper powder, brass powder, crushed shells, coffee, mica powder, turquoise, and lots of other things I can't think of right now with CA. They are all a similar process. Remember to seal the wood before you apply CA or you end up with dark staining. It is straightforward process, and I would like to see your results.
 
Blackwood I have a great deal of this, probably in excess of a ton and its the predominate species in my stash. The finish I use most of the time on this is DO to my own recipe [ ie I use spar varnish ] and apply it on the lathe at speed much like friction finish and work it in with a well soaked rag. Then leave it for a few minutes before removing the excess on the lathe again, dry it thoroughly. At this point you can choose to buff it as is or apply a polyurethane product, my preference would be the Wipe on Poly . I use satin allowing it to dry hard then buff, doing this you can get a shine looks like its been hand polished many times. A real quality gloss that isnt over the top and plastic looking
 
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