varnish on lignum vitae

[Thaddeus J. Van Gilder]

you guys have anyluck varnishing lignum vitae?

my varnish is coming off after 3 monthes, and I was wondering if there is a better finish.

[Donn]

LV is well known to be difficult to glue or finish, because it's so oily. I have a mallet, and it won't take my linseed/terps at all. I once made a knife hilt with it, and had to use a solvent before gluing. Maybe that will work before varnishing as well. If you have a scrap, try it. Brush on an oil solvent, and when it dries, try the varnish.

[thechemist]

I put the words varnish and adhesion into the search thingy, and asked it to search the entire message in Build/Repair, any date, and got a couple dozen threads. I looked at one or two and saw a lot of discussion about every aspect of adhesion of varnish and other things.

Then I put varnish and lignum vitae into the search thingy and got only this thread.

Then I put lignum vitae and adhesion, glue and variations into the search thingy and got nothing.

Then I put varnish and lignum vitae into Google and got quite a few threads where people seem to be doing it, so it seems that it can be done.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

This may not be a lot of help, because I think it may not be available in the States, but in a spirit of enquiry I put Coelan on my lignum vitae deadeyes this year and it has proved very sucessful - it has adhered perfectly, which varnish never did.

[gert]

I made blocks and cleats out of lignumvite; don't bother varneshing them; polish them up on a buffing wheel using a coarse and then fine compound just like it was bronze. It shines up beatifully. I think if you do a Carina search you may see a photo of them.