Finishing suggestions for Mahogany (Congolese)

[Thomascraft]

Hi guys,

I'm working on a traditional Indian Ocean (Mombasa, Zanzibar area) Bao game board (a very fast paced but simple game of moving beads / seeds etc along a series of 16 small 'cups'). The boards are beautiful pieces of craftsmanship with intricate details which explain the heritage and locality of the boards origin and the craftsmans style.

The one I'm working on now is from mahogany harvested from the Congolese rainforest (it is with a heavy heart I'm using this due to the ethics of it). This species has a rose colouring to it when freashly cut, which deepens to a warm reddish brown afte oxidisation. I'm looking deepen the colour even further to make it much darker but want to avoid a synthetic oil stain. Any suggestions on a natural solution?

TJL

 

[Leshy]

Teak oil? Look forward to seeing your pictures of the work... ☺ 👍

 

[Thomascraft]

Will give teak oil a go, thanks for the suggestion!! Will send pictures when complete.

 

[grey-array]

Hey Thomas, I would reckomend getting your hands on Tung oil, and try to get the non synthetic stuff if you can as it is way superiour as a wood finish.
apply about 3 coats, one coat a week. I guarantee you it will be one of the nicest finishes you have ever seen and felt, can say to many good thing about it.

Teak Oil is possible but keep in mind that a lot of `teak oils` have added colorants in them, therefor will stain your product in ways you might not want, tung will however deepen the color and through its penetration will show amazing colour and with the mahogany its amazing shimmering quality will be brought to life even more then usual.
Send some pictures, it sounds gorgeous ^^

Yours sincerely
Ruud

 

[Leshy]

Very good point, I didn't realise they put colourant in teak oil?
Tung oil is indeed great as is the diluted version (Danish oil) or even just plain and simple boiled linseed oil.
👍☺

 

[Thomascraft]

I use linseed oil on my work that could be used to eat with. I've used beeswax on all other work, but for this piece it is much larger and ideally I want to darken the tone on the wood slightly. Thanks for the advice on teak vs tung oil. Ultimately I will end up using what I can get my hands on in Nairobi I guess!