The store that I was at today dealt with specialty woods. So it begs the question in mind, what finish to do you put on rare woods generally speaking? For example they had lots and lots of zebrawood, and two huge slabs of Bubinga - rough cut with bark on them, along with some Bolivian Rosewood and Mango. I can't see anyone staining wood like that, so is it generally a simple varnish or wax as the finish?
Clear finish of some kind. I put tung oil on bubinga with spectacular results.
Jim
Bubinga is popular for recorder makers, and you'd just oil it for that.
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So it sounds like from yours and the previous poster that rare woods get oil or clear finishes. Generally speaking that is.
It's your wood, you can do whatever you want to it. Besides, there are other reasons to obtain a rare wood besides suface finish - sound quality, structure, durability, strength.
My wife made me stain a mahogany coffee table so it would match a desk her greatgrandfather built. Now she wants a mahogany couch to match the table; I should have written down what I did.
Normally you treat tropical woods are lightly as possible. Some oil if they don't need protection; some varnish if they do. But that's true for most woods; only wood I routinely stain is red oak.
We paint them yellow.
-Leuf
Some of the really hard tropicals will take a high polish with no finish at all. You have to tailor the finish to the particular species and the requirements of the piece.
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