Finishing Bocote

K

KDX

Well-Known Member
I'm new to knife making and finishing wood. I used some Bocote on a small EDC I made and sanded it to 2500 grit. I've put a few coats of Tung Oil on it but can still feel tiny fissures along the grain. What is the best way to fix this issue? Thanks in advance.
 
I know that with Danish oil you can put on the first coat and sand it wet and it will fill the grain, small holes, etc. I don't know if you can do that with Tung oil or not but if you could I would assume you would have to do it on the first coat. I think you will now have to put on multiple coats of Tung until you get enough build-up to close the grain.

Wallace
 
I haven't used Tung oil specifically on Bokote, but I've used on several other woods. I usually apply a heavy first coat, let it dry and then rub down good with extra fine steel wool. Then a lighter second coat, dry, rub down. After 3 or 4 coats it's usually good, then I apply a good paste wax and buff. Good luck.
 
Personally, I dislike any kind of "coating/finish" on Bocote.....it contains a lot of resins, and often times anything used to "coat" it, will be hit and miss....meaning that it will adhere well in some areas, and will not adhere in others. Generally all I do is sand to 800-1200 grit, give it a light buff with pink no-scratch, and then a couple coats of a quality wax. Bocote is one of those woods that just naturally has a open grain....in my experience, trying to fill the grain creates more problems then it solves....hence the finishing with wax.
 
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I've never used Bocote personally but I've used a number of other types of woods that are pretty porous as well as when I'm working with manzanita I will run some Tru Oil across the finish using multiple coats to fill small holes and pores like that. Provide it a few days to fully cure and then do a hand sand to bring the surface back down to the wood itself. The holes will be filled with a nice finish and you can do a polish with a loose wheel to get that final shine without needing to put oils on at all.

If you research Tru Oil, there is a way to finish handles really nicely with that as well and get that shiny appearance but the finish can be dented and scratched much easier than a nice hard wood or micarta/synthetic.
 
I have to agree with Ed on this one. A couple of coats of wax gives the best finish on Bocote in my opinion.
 
On Bocote I sand to 1,000, dampen and let dry. That raises what your feeling. The rub it with 0000 steel wool to remove that roughness. I'll bdo this 3 or 4 times till it feel very smooth. Then buff it using a product wood turners call Diamond White Compound. Followed with a couple of coats of a beeswax soften with turpentine, buffing between each coat.
 
Thanks for the replys. I ended up flooding it with CA and will sand it down to see if it filled the cracks. I don't think I will be working with this wood again.
 
I am using some for the first time, almost done. Took it to 800 grt rubbed it with some butcher block oil and it looks amazing no voids. I started with a nice piece from Woodcraft that may have helped me some. Post it soon.
 
Like others have said, Bocote has a raised grain. I don't try to fill it with oil or CA because more times than not it looks dirty when I'm done.

So I start with a stabilized Bocote. Hand saw to about a 1000 a couple of times and buff with white and them a coat or two on Minwax Wax. Done!
 
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