Anyone know how to finish rhododendron?

[Dan D'Silva]

Hello again.

I just completed work on the metal fittings for this little Bowie which has a grip of rhododendron harvested from my yard a few years ago. It seems like a pretty tough, resilient wood and has no visible pores, but it's also on the soft side.

Since this is obviously a 19th-century style, my initial thought was to give it an old-fashioned brown varnish, which I thought might give it an aged bone appearance. Maybe with some initial coats of BLO for deeper color. On the other hand, I wonder if the wood might not benefit from a different treatment to make up for its softness. Any thoughts?

 

[john april]

i think minwax makes a wood hardener. im not sure how well it works though.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Rhododendron wood will work fine. Once fully dried it is pretty hard. IIRC, it yellows a bit with age and drying. I would work it like Holly. Sand to a high grit and leave it as-is, or apply an oil finish.

 

[Dan D'Silva]

Thank you to both of you.

If that's the case, then I'll stick with the original plan of oil and varnish.

 

[EngrSorenson]

your post caught my eye- it’s not for everyone, but a CA glue finish makes even wood like poplar and cedar more durable. If durability was a concern, that’s what I’d do.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

i think minwax makes a wood hardener. im not sure how well it works though.

Id highly recommend against using this product. Its not a curing product, but rather an evaporative drying product. It generally leaves a gummy, splotchy results.

Rhododendron wood will work fine. Once fully dried it is pretty hard. IIRC, it yellows a bit with age and drying. I would work it like Holly. Sand to a high grit and leave it as-is, or apply an oil finish.

Of course Stacy is dead on, I would also recommend using either compressed air or a soft cloth to throughly clean the wood between sanding grits. Pale woods can be easily marked by left over grit, swarf and lots of other things. Blowing down the paper and the handle will help avoid some of those issues.

 

[Dan D'Silva]

So I figured one or two coats of boiled linseed oil would give it a bit of translucency and orange-tan color, like with holly.

What it did was bring out a bunch of grain that wasn't visible before. Now it looks like cheap cedar or pine lumber. Ah well, you learn something new every day...

 

[Ernie1980]

In that picture it looks like ivory or mammoth, but maybe it’s my screen…
Can you remove the oil again and just stain it like you originally planned?

 

[Dan D'Silva]

I doubt I can remove it now. If the end grain is any indication, it seems to have soaked in pretty good.

Staining might be a good idea. At least, it'd probably look better than it does now.

 

[FredyCro]

Looks good to me, definitely not like pine wood. I only use BLO if I want to intentionally darken the wood a bit.

 

[LCoop]

I've often wondered if Mountain Laurel wouldn't make a great handle. It's totally bland in color though. Tough as nails. Made lots of canes from it and it's incredibly tough. Very rarely develops drying checks or cracks. I would have thought rhododendron would have been close to Mountain Laurel though so I have no clue.