Finishing Zebrano

[whittler1507]

Hi guys, bought a lovely zebrano board to make a dining room bench from, having milled up a small test piece I'm stumped how to get this thing smooth and finished to a clear high gloss finish.
No matter which direction I plane it, it comes up rough as a badgers bum.

I'm thinking that it needs to sealed but with what I don't know.
Any advice would be appreciated




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[RogerP]

For wood with a wild grain I've always found a cabinet scraper is the best bet to get a decent finish.

http://woodgears.ca/scraper/

 

[profchris]

I've used some figured woods in musical and instrument making. For grain like you describe I apply a couple of wiped on coats of shellac and then try a scraper. If that still tugs at the wild grain, sanding. More shellac as needed - it seems to hold the gnarly bits together. Usually I've scraped or sanded it away before final finishing, but as I always start with a few shellac wiped on coats it's not a problem if some is left.

I've not worked with soprano, but curly koa behaves just as you describe and I've succeeded with that.

 

[profchris]

Forgot to say, my shellac is pre-mixed French Polish from the hardware store.

 

[RogerS]

Drum sander ! Works every time.

 

[ED65]

No matter which direction I plane it, it comes up rough as a badgers bum.

I'm thinking that it needs to sealed but with what I don't know.

That might be sorted by altering your plane settings.

Obviously get your plane iron super sharp to begin with and adjust to take a very light cut (roughly 0.05mm or less), but the main thing that will help control it is setting your cap iron very very close to the edge – the difference between 1mm back and 0.2-0.3mm can be quite astonishing. Also play with skewing the plane.

With luck after that just some card scraping to get the last of it out before you move to sanding if needed.