Finishing Rosemary Burls

[swiswilliam]

I am looking for advice on finishing items made from burls of rosemary wood.
I have tried several materials but never found one that gives a consistent, high sheen finish.
Waxes are a bit patchy, as are are oils.
I have resigned myself to buffing several coats of sanding sealer, but that only gives a dull finish.
The wood is very hard and produces some oil at the cut when turning.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Regards,
Mike.

[bodrighywood]

What is rosemary wood? No heard of that one. Rosemary is a shrub that doesn't have much wood that is suitable for turning as far as I know and can't see any reference online to it.

Perte

[willstewart]

Sounds more like rosewood (which also smells nice on cutting, hence the name).  Burls often have uneven sections within them - but a wax finish should be fine I think.  If you want a 'filling' hard glaze that covers and fills uneven sections that is not easy. - you could try CA (superglue) with a hardening spray and re-sanding between coats but that is really only for small objects like pens.

[swiswilliam]

What I have is definitely rosemary. It grows wild in southern Spain. The burl grows on, or below the surface and can be the size of a football. I have attached a small box which is 5 cm in diameter. The lid is cherry.
Thanks for your inputs. I will persevere.
Mike.

[Les Symonds]

Well, at least we sorted out that it really is Rosemary ( well you did, anyway, swiswilliam)....so back to the subject of finishing this burr. Normally, dense burrs like this are, well, dense, and dense timbers normally take a finish well. Your picture brings to mind thuya burr which is very like pippy yew in its nature, in that it is dense and oily. Razor sharp tools, fine sanding to well beyond the normal 400 grit benchmark should produce a finish, irrespective of what you plant onto the surface.
What is your cutting/sanding procedure...after all, it's every bit as important, if not more important, than the finishing procedure?
Les

[Bryan Milham]

Noting you say you get an oil when cutting the wood, the only thing I can think of is a trick used to glue teak.

Teak is also a very oily wood, so it has to be rubbed down several times with Acetone to remove the oil in the wood near the surface.

Acetone is a naturally occurring chemical in the body, it can be bought from paint suppliers or it is also nail varnish remover, and you can usually buy a small bottle of it in a £1 shop.

Another reason to keep it in your workshop, it is the solvent for superglue (CA Glue). So if you use CA a bottle of it should always be in reach.

[seventhdevil]

presuming the species you are referring to is Rosmarinus officinalis then i've just been educated that it can have a timber to turn.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

I thought I had written a reply to this but perhaps I forgot to push send.
I agree will Bryan that wiping it with a solvent may work but just consider this. If the wood has been buried underground as you have mentioned the pressure holding the moisture in will be greater, once it is dug up that pressure is removed thereby allowing the movement of sap that much easier. So my point is that because of this it may take longer for your timber to dryout than normal. If it was me, I would finish the surface as finely as I could and then buff, that is all and if the sap is still exhuding you may well find it difficult to get a finish to stay on in the first place.

[fuzzyturns]

Judging by the picture, I would have eaten my hat if that isn't a thuya burr. But since you are so sure about it, I'll go with Steve's response that I have just been educated.

[Lazurus]

Would Truoil give the finish your looking for?

[swiswilliam]

Thanks for all the interest and advice.
On mature reflection, I thinks that the oily quality of this wood is probably the culprit. So I will experiment with your suggestions. Thanks again.
In response to some of your replies: -
Les - My cutting/sanding procedure? This made me think. Cutting these burls is tough, particularly the roughing. There are roots, earth, stones, etc., flying off the piece as you are cutting. You might think a burl might make a nice candle-stick, but it ends up as an ash-tray. They are hard, so re-sharpening tools is essential. The grain is all over the place. Not sure I have a procedure. As to sanding, I leave the piece for a few days to let any oil come out, then wipe dry, apply sanding sealer and sand up to 320. Then I have tried Yorkshire Grit, which gives a nice finish, but if the piece is full of cracks and crevices (which these burls are), then its difficult to get the YG out of the cracks & crevices. I have also tried Chestnut Woodwax over this. Again, its difficult to clean stuff out of the cracks. This often gives a patchy finish, so I have reverted to multiple coats of sanding sealer, which gives a duller finish, buts it is not patchy.
dr4g0nfly - Thanks for the tip on acetone. Didn't know it was useful for CA glue.
Lazarus - Not familiar with Truoil, but as it contains linseed oil, I think I might be compounding my problems with oil.

[seventhdevil]

you do not want to use any surface finish (like sanding sealer) on an oily timber, it simply won't take.

go for something like danish oil which can be buffed to a shine after a few coats and a few weeks curing.

failing that just go for carnauba wax.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

You could try boiling it in water?