Hi all,

Hoping some of the stock/grip experts can weigh in on the best way to finish rosewood. Online I've read methods that vary from just waxing it to soaking it in acetone for a couple days; hoping to hear who has had success with what. These are a new set of grips that I made for a revolver (sadly not a S&W) and I am looking for the most durable/low maintenance finish that looks good.

Thank you,
Mark

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Mark

There's a problem with rosewood (its really a whole family of woods). Its got its own in grown oil for protection. Some won't take a finish because the oil just causes it to roll off or not dry. You may have to experiment with finish types to get one that will stick and dry.

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Dick Burg

formsby low gloss wipe on tung oil. multiple coats. One grip maker that sells here puts on a coat of the same stuff in high gloss first.


Charlie

Tru-oil wont dry (unless you do the Armor All trick)
Oil based Poly finishes won't dry
Tung Oil works
Wax works

I haven't tried anything else on Rosewood.

Not to go against the experts who have already chimed in on this, but I have great luck with the following process.First I always lightly sand the surface to remove any natural wax build up ( even if none is visible ). Next I hand rub in pure mineral oil to darken and bring out the reddish color ( in some cases one grip may turn very dark brown, while the other may show more red ) a little rosewood stain will balance them out to an even shade. Next would be to go over them with very fine steel wool. Two finishes that I like to use is true oil,followed by a complete de- glossing of the finish using another round of steel wool or a scotch brite pad. The other finish option would be an oil base poly rifle stock finish that I only use for grips that are going on a mirror blue revolver. It's always best to not have the grips be shinier than the blueing on the gun. I know many woods fall under the rosewood family, and many judge the grain pattern and open pours to determine that it is genuine rosewood.The only way I know is if the wood absorbs pure mineral oil and darkens instantly.maybe the oil step helps the true oil or oil based poly stick and dry within normal expected times.hope this helps you.

Thanks for all the responses; I am unsure if I'll leave them waxed or give tung oil a shot. If I leave them waxed will they age prematurely? I'd be paranoid of them becoming darkened from use without anything to protect the wood (other than the wax). I've currently got them smoothed out by sanding to 1200 grit, which was probably overkill. If I do go the tung oil route should I wipe them down with acetone or something similar prior to applying the oil?

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Mark

you can wipe them down with acetone which will remove some of the natural oils that cause the trouble, it will also lighten the wood, temporarily. I don't think there is anything you can do to stop the darkening short of sealing them in a plastic block. If you don't want them to get too dark, then you need to start off with lighter wood. If the block has been sitting around for a couple years, what it looks like color wise at that point is pretty close to what the color of the finished product will be, eventually.

Thanks again for the information. I am not worried about the natural darkening of the wood; I would just prefer to do something to it to protect from the grime/oil of my hands when shooting the gun. My fear with leaving them waxed is that they'll get "dirty", requiring me to hit them with some sandpaper and re-wax. I know nothing about wood working, so correct me if I'm off base!

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Mark

Let the wood's natural oil be the finish and don't worry about the grips getting darker with use, consider it character. Almost anything you add to real rosewood is going to look terrible, if not right away, after awhile once the natural oil rises to the surface and mingles with whatever wax, foreign oils or other finishing products you put on it.

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SWHF #448

Like Kurac said. A couple years ago, I purchased a set of rosewood grips for a Super Blackhawk that were dark, with beautiful grain. They had been polished and waxed by the maker. Within 6 months of use, they turned almost black. They look like ebony. Still pretty, but the color has changed. I think it has as much to do with the oils in the wood as in my hand. Attached a before and after pic.

Larry

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Larry; thanks for the information. Those turned very dark!

Kurac, in Larry's (Fishinfool) case do you think Tung oil would have done anything to preserve the way the grips looked originally? Or would they have turned color no matter what?

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Mark

I think they are going to look that way no mater what, if they don't darken from the top side, then they will through the backside. I have seen some products made from rosewood that were sprayed with a laquer, they were nice looking when freshly made but I didn't get a chance to inspect after 6-12 months of aging.

Thanks, again, for the information. If the finish (tung oil) doesn't do anything to preserve/protect the wood, then is the sole purpose of it to make the grips glossy?

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Mark

image4_zps35ebbfb6.jpeg Photo by Laketime1 | Photobucket


Here is a pair that has been sprayed with satin low gloss rifle stoch finish.This was done in the late 90's. No wax coming up on either fronts or backs.I believe the mineral oil treatment may have something to do with preventing this.Click link above.

Rosewood among others, are so packed with natural oils that any kind of treatment or preservative you give it is only going to be topical, it will not soak in enough to offer anything more than a surface protection.

On a lot of other woods that have very little natural oils, like maple and walnut, a finish like tru-oil or tung oil will easily penetrate 1/8" and in most cases more, into the wood.

For me the main thing I would be worried about is moisture damage, with naturally oily woods, that is of little concern. In addition to their beauty, natural resistance to moisture damage is another reason why rosewoods are a popular choice for handgun, knife and tool handles.

Thanks all. I think I will leave them natural with a coat of renaissance wax. If I come to regret this I'll sand them back down and try the tung oil. As I'm perceiving it there is no real advantage to applying the oil other than making them "shinier".

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Mark

In days long gone by, hand plane handles were made out of Rosewood, the real stuff. they use to dip them in varnish-- I still have a couple around some where-- however, I wouldn't use this finish. What they may have dipped them in first remains a mystery, at least to me.

You might try de-waxed shellac, brush on a thin coat then lightly sand followed by one more coat. Then rub it down with 0000 steel wool and paste wax. Shellac is alcohol based and the oils should not give the finish to much trouble. Or just use the wax and steel wool and call it a day.

Be aware that most tung oil is half varnish and it is the varnish that dries and provides the gloss. Straight tung oil with no varnish is available from specialty houses like Rockler. I like a warm, no-gloss oil finish on my weapons and prefer either tung or lindseed oil with no varnish.

I hope this is not inappropriate here.

I am trying to understand rosewood. I see a ton of grips/stocks that are aftermarket that are labeled as rosewood. I always thought many of these were impregnated or stabilized or not actually real or natural wood. More of a laminated grip? Am I just wrong here? Any way to determine whether advertised rosewood is indeed the type of wood here in discussion?

Thanks,

Craig

There are a lot of laminated rosewood stocks around,but they have that carved plywood,high gloss look and don't look nearly as nice as a grip made from a solid piece.

Most of the stuff you see labeled as "Rosewood" or "Cherry Wood" are high density laminates (Plywood) using usually Birch, sometimes Maple as the base. They choose drye light colored woods since they can be dyed a number of different colors. Then they bind it all together with a resin or acrylic.

I just finished a set of smooth target stocks that the seller said were rosewood.
I soaked them for two days in acetone to remove the OEM coating and let them dry out for a day. I then applied four coats of TruOil with a full day dry time in between coats and a fine steel wool rubbing in between coats as well. A final dulling with steel wool and then hand rubbed with a soft towel. Came out pretty good. The smaller j-frame grips are the standard S&W Gongalo Alves I think. Pics below show the acetone dried stage and finished stage.

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Kurac and AR,

Thank you. I thought that was the case with many I have seen. I have seen a couple of youtubes on guys trying to refinish these laminates and talking about stains and dyes and waxes. In my experience with laminates, it sand with progressively finer sand paper, then perhaps polish with fine abrasives. I tend to real ivory and real wood, so I will keep my eyes open. And when I see what looks like a laminate, I will assume so.

Viper, those look great. I really need to find something smooth and un-finger grooved for my new N frame.

Craig

I have never finished rosewood grips, but have finished guitars. As said by various other people, Rosewood is a compendium of woods. It is an open grain wood; meaning that you can see the grain as looking like a series of very tiny spiderweb open canals. First, determine whether you want to shade or color the wood. Then, wear gloves and go over the grips with acetone to remove surface oil. Next, you will have to find a good woodworker's store and get some dark red or brown open grain filler. This is mixed with some naptha to a cream consistency and brushed into the grain. When it hazes over in a few minutes, rub across the grain with some burlap. Let it dry and go over with some steel wool. Next, put a thin layer of shelac. This forms a bond between the wood and the next finish coat. The finish coat is three light coats of varnish. You may want to use marine varnish. Steel wool between coats. The only problem will be that the finish will be very smooth. You may want to look at some online tutorials in finishing. This is an art rather than a science.

Hope this helps.

M

Another thing that will work on Rosewood but is kind of a pain to work with is CA (cyanoacrylate) it will dry on anything but you can only get one easy coat in, any more and it wants to melt the coat below it.

One of the (apparently forgotten) desirable attributes of real rosewood is that is has its own natural oils, and does not need to be finished. Just polish the wood and it will be beautiful. It can be waxed, if desired. Lemon oil will also clean and protect rosewood.

It would be a shame to soak the real stuff in acetone or other solvent just to be able to put a high gloss finish on it. Use plywood "rosewood" or some other "lesser" wood for the pimped look.

I agree on not soaking or finishing rosewood if it looks good already. But this is how my grips looked when I bought them from the seller. Got the regular S&W coating that looked yellow and was pealing. I think I improved them quite well.

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I have a pair of rosewood smooth Target Stocks on a Model 27. I put some Howard's Feed-N-Wax on them which is a combination of orange oil, beeswax and carnauba wax. The rosewood seems to really soak it up and they appear dull again after a few weeks. I tried Ren Wax after first cleaning them with acetone but the finish turned cloudy after a few days. The rosewood is definitely darkening over time, they went from reddish brown to a very dark color, almost black. I don't know if it is the Howard's wax oxidizing over time although I use it on antique furniture like quarter sawn oak with nice results and have not seen the same darkening effect. Rosewood is weird stuff.

What has worked for me in the past since I accelerate the darkening by rubbing in pure mineral oil to achiever the color depth that I am looking for.sometimes they can get too dark hiding the grain. When this happens I let them sit for 10 - 15 minutes in the oven at 150 degrees, this dries out and forces the oils to the surface which can be easily wiped off.this is why I prefer to use a satin or gloss poly rifle stock finish to get them to stay at the color I want.A trick that the late Deek Deason the owner of Bear Hug grips taught me was to use small amount of satin poly then bake as mentioned above. You will now have a flawless hard gloss finish which will really showcase the grain.Dull wood can be nice and is the easiest finish to have, but it is as its called. Dull to look at.