# Finishing Amboyna Burl



## Olympus (Jan 21, 2009)

I ran into something new this pas weekend when working on a set of grips. The wood I used was amboyna burl and it was the sapwood section. The grips turned out very nice and the customer wanted the grips to have a high gloss finish, so I decided to use some spar urethane that I had. I brushed the first coat on and it really made the wood like beautiful. I left it inside the house to dry overnight before I put the next coat on. The next morning, the finish was just as tacky as if it had just been put on an hour before! I've never encountered this with previous amboyna burl that I've worked with. I let the wood sit for 12 more hours. Came back and it was still just as tacky as before. I ended up having to strip the urethane off and finish the wood with tung oil. 

It's like the wood just wouldn't take the urethane. It didn't have any problems with the tung oil though. And it's not like the house was too hot or too cold for the finish, thermostat is set at 70 degrees. Anyone have any ideas why the urethane wouldn't harden up or dry?


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## CharlesNeil (Jun 26, 2007)

not real familar with this wood, but sometimes oils in wood will be pulled into a finish and prevent drying , a mid coat of thin shellac will cure this, it seperates the wood and finish, secondly if the urethane is old the driers can lose strength, apply some to a glass or like surface and see if it dries, if so its the wood /finish combo , if not its the product


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## Olympus (Jan 21, 2009)

A friend told me to wipe the surface down well with acetone and let it dry before applying the poly. I gave that a try and it worked like a charm.


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