What finish for Bocote?

Cheesyfeet

I'm nearing the finishing stage of my first home build - body will be painted with nitrocellulose and the mahogany neck grain filled and finished with nitrocellulose lacquer.  I've put a bocote veneer on the headstock and was wondering whether it would take a grain fill and lacquer or, being a bit of an oily wood, it may be better just to fine sand, mask it off when spraying the rest of the neck and then give it a good polish with something instead?

WezV

I would worry about lacquer adhesion, you would certainly want to remove the oil as much as possible first.


Last time I used it was on a multilam neck.   I didn't de-oil it before glue up, just freshly planed wood.   It fell apart cleanly at the joins  as soon as I started carving.

    I'm now nervous about bocote  


I think leaving it raw and oiling after is likely safest

Cheesyfeet

Opted to mask it off whilst I'm spraying everything else.  Think I'll experiment with some wax on some offcuts and see how it works out

peanuts

Cheesyfeet said:

Opted to mask it off whilst I'm spraying everything else.  Think I'll experiment with some wax on some offcuts and see how it works out

any pics of the bocote? the grain character is often so good would be a shame to lose it behind a coat of something!

Cheesyfeet

Ah, yes, meant to post an update.  Ended up sanding to 400 grit and then using Hampshire Sheen Gloss Finishing Wax (about a dozen 'coats').  I like how it's come out

Need to sort the screws on the truss rod cover - countersink is blunter than a Piers Morgan interview