finishing a ebony and bloodwood handle?

[guitardemon]

I am looking for some recommendations on how i should finish my ebony and bloodwood handle. So far i have it sanded to about 400 grit, and the two just don't look that great. Right now i am thinking about maybe some super glue and sand up to 800 maybe 100 grit. what to do you guys think? what would you do to really make these woods "pop"

 

[Edro20]

Pics would help!

 

[Burl Source]

Is the wood stabilized? If not a trick we do when finishing burl is as follows:
Fine sand to at least 500 grit. Blow off all dust with air compressor.
Using danish oil, preferably satin finish apply a very liberal coat. Let it soak in about an hour and wipe off thoroughly with an old t shirt. Then let it dry till feels dry to touch. Rub down the handle with extrafine steel wool then blow off again. Apply another coat of oil, let it sit an hour and wipe again. Repeat this 4 or more times till you like how it looks. Most people make the mistake of not applying enough coats and end up with a dull looking handle. After it dries a couple days you can spray with lacquer or wax and buff. It might sound like a lot but it will give more depth to any figure and make the colors more vibrant.
I hope this helps. Mark

 

[daveinvegas]

I have used polishing compound (all I know about it is I use either white, red or orange compound) and a buffing wheel on my grinder. My ebony pistol grips turn out very glossy. It also "seems" to "harden" the surface.

On most of the wood I've used I prefer the natural wood without a finish but it seems to me that ebony shows fingerprints and smudging more without some kind of finish.

But don't take my word for it cause I don't know anything about the qualities of different types of wood. I only know what I like and what I've tried that works for me. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if I have any idea what I'm doing most of the time. I think everything I do is an experiment. Maybe you should try that, too. If you find anything that works well, let us know.

 

[firebert]

I have used polishing compound (all I know about it is I use either white, red or orange compound) and a buffing wheel on my grinder. My ebony pistol grips turn out very glossy. It also "seems" to "harden" the surface.

It sounds like you're burnishing the surface, (compressing the grain).

I usually sand to about 1200x then apply some oil and wipe the excess off after about 5 minutes. After the oil hardens, I polish it up to 4000x. Other woods can be taken finer, but that's about where ebony tops out.

 

[mdoyle]

ebony really isn't that hard to finish and you already some good advice in tha area... The blood wood should be sealed with a sanding sealer after 400 grit. I use Deft from Lowes. Let the sealer penetrate and dry, then back to 400, then 800,1500,2000, buff. If you don't use a sealer on the bloodwood it will pick up dirt and darken. I have a pic of a knife I made a while back with bloodwood bolsters, I'll dig it up.
Matt Doyle