DIW finishing help.

LSCG

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hey Guys I have a problem with some desert ironwood grips i'm working on and wondered if anyone had any ideas.

a few weeks back I bought a killer set of DIW burl scales as seen in the first picture, I got the grips shaped and everything was going great till I started to put the finish on the grips, for some reason the wood darkened considerably as you can see in the second picture, now they're not quite as dark in person but they're still really dark and the beautiful grain is all hidden.

any ideas on what to do to lighten them up?

when I got the scales they appeared to be coated with polyurethane and they looked exactly the same as the first picture but when I used polyurethane for my finish the second picture is the result.

http://i800.Rule #2/albums/yy290/lonestarcustomgrips/_57_zps1c3cb36e.jpg

http://i800.Rule #2/albums/yy290/lonestarcustomgrips/P1080946_zps6839a4a8.jpg
 

ripjack13

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Holy darkness batman! I'm interested in hearing what could help and optional ways of coating em.

Did you sand em off again? You might be able to make thin grips from em?
 

Mike1950

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I have some really cool redwood burl-beautiful color-figure-put a coat of general wipe on and they turned very dark. I bet it is root burl- mine is. I have not figured out how to finish and keep it light. NICE grips though........
 

Cody Killgore

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That is crazy! I have never had a problem like that. I have never put any kind of finish on DIW other than wax though. Are you sure it had a coat of poly on it to begin with? That ironwood stuff buffs like glass. Did this come from Arizona Ironwood? I've gotta couple sets from them and it appeared to me that it was just buffed. Mine did not seem to change appearance at all.
 
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manbuckwal

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Snap !!! That's crazy, the first pic is awesome Zane . I hope u find a solution to get em back . I could see a more porous wood doing that, but really surprised that happened on ironwood. I've only used CA for a finish on ironwood so far and never had that happen . Maybe @barry richardson or @shadetree_1 can help you ?
 

shadetree_1

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I have always used Deft Gloss Brushing Lacquer, all the pictures of every piece I have in my store only have the Deft on them and it has only lightened and brought the color and grain out, not darken it. I have sold bookmatched sets of grips like yours before and the Deft has never done that, it just brightens and highlights the grain! Take a look at my store and some of the pieces and you can see that it just brings the grain and colors out. I have also used CA and never had that happen.
 
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Tclem

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I use ca and never seen that happen. That's almost two different woods
 

Blueglass

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I was going to say sanding sealer and then lacquer. I was given the same advise about some Blue Mahoe I'm working on. I rubbed on some mineral spirits just to see the grain and it got crazy dark so I knew oil base wasn't the answer. I had to ask someone that works with it regularly.
 

barry richardson

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That is an extreme case of darkening all right. Like Joe said, lacquer, or CA, (basically non oil based finished) are the best finishes for keeping the color from darkening too much, heat from excessive sanding darkens it too.... did you heat-cure the finish?
 

LSCG

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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
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Holy darkness batman! I'm interested in hearing what could help and optional ways of coating em.

Did you sand em off again? You might be able to make thin grips from em?

I sanded the finish off once before but the second finish just did the same thing, i'm hoping I won't have to turn them into thin grips.


I have some really cool redwood burl-beautiful color-figure-put a coat of general wipe on and they turned very dark. I bet it is root burl- mine is. I have not figured out how to finish and keep it light. NICE grips though........

thanks Mike.

That is crazy! I have never had a problem like that. I have never put any kind of finish on DIW other than wax though. Are you sure it had a coat of poly on it to begin with? That ironwood stuff buffs like glass. Did this come from Arizona Ironwood? I've gotta couple sets from them and it appeared to me that it was just buffed. Mine did not seem to change appearance at all.

i'm pretty sure it was poly but it could have been something else, it definitely came from a can whatever it was. no, I haven't bought from Arizona Ironwood yet, I got these off of ebay.


Snap !!! That's crazy, the first pic is awesome Zane . I hope u find a solution to get em back . I could see a more porous wood doing that, but really surprised that happened on ironwood. I've only used CA for a finish on ironwood so far and never had that happen . Maybe @barry richardson or @shadetree_1 can help you ?

thanks Tom.




I have always used Deft Gloss Brushing Lacquer, all the pictures of every piece I have in my store only have the Deft on them and it has only lightened and brought the color and grain out, not darken it. I have sold bookmatched sets of grips like yours before and the Deft has never done that, it just brightens and highlights the grain! Take a look at my store and some of the pieces and you can see that it just brings the grain and colors out. I have also used CA and never had that happen.

I think I have some deft sanding sealer, I might try a coat of that and see what it does, if it doesn't darken i'll get some Deft Lacquer and finish them out.

That is an extreme case of darkening all right. Like Joe said, lacquer, or CA, (basically non oil based finished) are the best finishes for keeping the color from darkening too much, heat from excessive sanding darkens it too.... did you heat-cure the finish?

ok maybe that's what's doing it, I usually use Minwax fast drying polyurethane which I just found out is oil based so I think now if I try something water based it wont be this dark, i'm going to go strip it now and try some Deft and see what happends, i'll keep y'all updated. no, I didn't heat cure the finish, once I finished wet sanding them I let them dry, wiped them down with alcohol and then sprayed the poly.
 

NYWoodturner

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Zane - all of the finishes that everyone mentioned above are non oil based. I suspect you put an oil based finish/ poly on this which will always darken a wood. Poly can be oil based, or you could just have thought it was poly. Drying will be the only thing that will lighten it if this is the case, and them the changes will be VERY slooooooowwwww in coming. By slow I mean if you put it in your wives oven at 125 and took her away for a long weekend and came back you would have to look close for the change. Putting anything over the top even if you strip will likely just prolong the drying time. If you strip it you won't get the oil out of the wood which is what darkened it. Sand it down to wood, put it on a shelf and revisit it in 6 months.
 

ripjack13

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omg....6 months? sheesh.....

You'll have to keep these by default Zane. All this time and effort into them so far, man oh man...
 
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