I am making a couple of bowls from Sassafras’s and I was wondering what is the best finish for them?
I’ve used a lot of sassafras since we have a lot of the trees here and are often relatively short lived. (I need to remove a two fairly large healthy ones - and maybe 6 standing dead trees - so if anyone wants some sassafras wood, come visit and help take down the trees. Take home a truck load to share! Late fall and winter is a great time to take down trees.) I process the logs into boards,slabs and turning blanks for drying.
BTW, the wood smells great when worked, but bark of the roots of living sassafras trees has the highest concentration of the great-smelling stuff, commonly used to make sassafras tea.
I’ve tried a number of different finishes. We each like different things sometimes, but I prefer using multiple coats of “danish” oil. It does yellow the wood but I’m usually OK with that. I rarely fill the grain with anything.
I’m sorry to report the unthinkable - I don’t have any good photos.
Oh, update, I just found a photo of a little music box I made from sassafras and walnut from our farm. The finish is slightly glossy from the oil finish, not buffed, but from a bit of wax. I added walnut feet to raise the bottom to keep from diminishing the sound (and for clearance so the music box key can stay attached).
Sassafras, BTW, has a nice resonance you can hear and feel when a thin piece is tapped. I think it would be great for other instruments like dulcimers. The next time I saw some I plan to take some boards to a dulcimer maker I know.
(This was from a relatively small diameter sassafras log. The sawmill makes processing the logs nearly effortless and so quick!)
JKJ
