African Mahogany
I have 2 pieces of African Mahogany that are each about 1 foot long. I've rounded all the edges on one face so that the tests can show how they perform on edge grain.
My goal is to evenly divide each piece of wood with painter's tape, front and back, so that I can have essentially 4 "sections" of each board to test on.
My tests are categorized as follows:
Stain wood or just stain wood filler. This means do I seal the wood before or after applying the wood filler and
stain.
Which stain to use (testing Gunstock and Dark Walnut stains).
Sand only or use a smoothing plane.
Misc Notes
These tests don't yet include the finish. I'm still researching what finish I want to apply.
Other tests I'd like to do would include using some sort of Tung/Teal oil.
The Equipment
I don't have any particular experience for this process. In the past I've just sanded the project and then lathered on some Polyurethane or Danish Oil. This time I'm going to try a more sophisticated approach.
Also, I have no affiliation (or even preference at this point) for any of the products I'm using. Basically I went down to my local big box store and bought what they had on hand.
Wood Filler
I'm using the "Varathane Wood Filler Classic" product for the wood filler. I've also heard of people using sanding dust from their actual project as the wood filler and if I had more test boards (or patience) I could test that out too.
Since African Mahogany has an open cell structure this will leave "pores" on the surface of the wood even after sanding or planing. The idea is to use the wood filler to fill in these pores prior to staining so that the whole project will be colored the same way.
Sealer
I'm using the "Varathane Sanding Sealer" product to seal the test boards.
Some of the tests will seal the wood before applying the wood filler and some tests will seal the wood after the wood filler and stain have been applied. The reason for this is to test whether I want to stain the wood fibers themselves or just the wood filler.
Stains
I'm using the "Varathane Classic Wood Stain" in either Gunstock or Dark Walnut. The big box store didn't have a Dark Mahogany so I went with the darkest brown stain I could find.
I'm hoping the redness of the gunstock really pops. If I like it I might do another test using some sort of orange colored stain, specifically in the post-sealing staining technique. I'm thinking some speckles of color will give fun detail to the darker, somber effect Mahogany typically conveys.
Planer
I'm using the "" smoothing plane.
I'm new to planing. In fact this will be the first hand planing I've done... ever. With a little research the suggested method of entry into the hand planing world is to get a smoothing plane and use it in lieu of, or in addition to, sanding.
Sander
Nothing special, per se, here. I'm using a "Festool XXX" random orbit sander.
Test Wood Pieces
Each "section" of the boards will be numbered (1-8). Here are my tests by section.
Board Section 1:
Sand to a 220 grit level.
Pre-seal the wood prior to wood filler and staining.
Use the gunstock stain.
Board Section 2:
Sand to 220 grit level.
Use wood filler and stain. Then seal the wood.
Use the gunstock stain.
Board Section 3: (This is the backside of board section 1.)
Sand to 120 grit and then use smoothing plane.
Pre-seal the wood prior to wood filler and staining.
Use the gunstock stain.
Board Section 4: (This is the backside of board section 2.)
Sand to 120 grit and then use smoothing plane.
Use wood filler and stain. Then seal the wood.
Use the gunstock stain.
Board Section 5:
Sand to a 220 grit level.
Pre-seal the wood prior to wood filler and staining.
Use the dark walnut stain.
Board Section 6:
Sand to 220 grit level.
Use wood filler and stain. Then seal the wood.
Use the dark walnut stain.
Board Section 7: (This is the backside of board section 5.)
Sand to 120 grit and then use smoothing plane.
Pre-seal the wood prior to wood filler and staining.
Use the dark walnut stain.
Board Section 8: (This is the backside of board section 6.)
Sand to 120 grit and then use smoothing plane.
Use wood filler and stain. Then seal the wood.
Use the dark walnut stain.
Test Details
Board 1
Board 2
Board 3
Board 4
Board 5
Board 6
Board 7
Board 8
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