The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
I would ask what are you going to finish this with? If you going to use a penetrating oil like tung be careful with thin CA and dust it will not penetrate the CA if it's a small spot you should be ok. If you use a film finish like poly, varnish or lacquer you should be ok as well. Anything larger that 1/8" I use de-waxed shellac and sanding dust from the piece and make it look a bark inclusion or pitch pocket. Just my 2 cents
I do agree that oil will not penetrate the CA, actually nothing will. However, for most finishes some type of oil is required to bring out the grain/burl. I used CA in the maple burl above then sanded it until all that remained was down in the eye, void etc. In the Koa above I've applied the CA glue but not yet sanded back so you still see the CA glue bleeding. I use an oil varnish blend, like Waterlox, and it works great. Tru-Oil for knife handles works great as well even after using CA glue. I think this is right on point with what you are saying, you need the varnish part to cover over the entire piece to look uniform.
Below is an extreme example of highly figured Walnut burl with all kinds of worm holes, punky spots, eyes, voids, etc. In this one I experimented with crushed Malachite and brass shavings for the large voids but used just straight CA glue for all that hundreds of little eyes and small cracks. Then finished it all with Waterlox, which is tung oil and varnish mix. I love the stuff for most finishes and use Tru-oil on knife handles, fly-fishing nets that will get handled frequently.
After sanding and finishing you can't tell that CA glue was even used on the eyes. Without filing all those eyes the finish would leave small indents regardless of the number of coats.
Very nice Maple Burl bowl. One thing we should have asked the OP is what is the intended use. Dopic1 asked about type of finish. Equally important is what you intend to use this wood for. It's one thing to finish a table slab or maple bowl with just an oil or varnish on surface. However, if OP intends to make knife handles from this wood you might seriously consider having it stabilized to fill all the internal voids. I assume those long pieces are redwood. With that amount of figure they may be structurally weak and no amount of CA glue will solve that. Maybe ok for scales, where the tang will provide rigidity but for a solid block handle those pores may absorb moisture and break. Just my 2 cents as a hobby woodworker and knife collector, not a knife maker.