Preventing the bruised banana finish

I am so disappointed with the bruised banana appearance of the highly figured Qld Silver Ash tray I made. I used Livos Kunos Clear #244 oil finish, three coats, with the last one applied with Liberon 0000 steel wool, and then wiped off with a soft lint free cotton rag.

Can anyone please suggest a way to prevent this look? I don't like the darker brown bruised look.

Should I have bleached the timber with peroxide and ammonia first? Or put a thin sealing coat of #1 lb cut of shellac and sanded it off before applying the oil? Or just used three coats of shellac, nothing else

I'm afraid bleaching will not help you at all. The difference is because the apparently "bruised" areas are almost end grain so take up the finish differently to face grain, and also reflect light differently.

I agree with Mobyturns. It seems to be partly a function of how you light it too. In the photos in your box post it looks much lighter. I was going to comment on how good it looks. Perhaps you're noticing the contrast between the small & large trays.

I like it as is, it shows the character of the timber rather than you trying to make it look something that it isn't

After receiving good advice from fellow Forumites in response to my question. I found a left over piece of QSA with similar grain pattern.

As a last resort, to minimise the bruised banana effect, I thought I would apply a thin coat of #1 lb cut ( very watery, 12gm dewaxed powder in 100ml of Ethanol) to the piece. The idea was to to seal the end grain mentioned by Mobyturns above, then sand it is back lightly with 400grit paper, and then apply the Kunos #244 clear oil finish.

Man plans, God laughs....again!

After the first coat of shellac, the bruised banana finish appeared immediately, in all its glory.

So I am going to follow the excellent opinions above ( and those of my wife) and stick with the original tray. It is what it is!

AlexS was right about the lighting, the appearance of the bruised grain varies with the angle of the light.

Many thanks for all your expert opinions, I really appreciate it

It’s the nature of timber, I’d almost call that as a quilted effect, similar to quilted Queensland maple or light fiddleback.

Some wood workers pay a premium for grain like that - bonus!

This is in the natural grain of the wood - Think fiddleback patterns but with the wave in the wood being a longer flatter wave. Not a flaw.

Blackwood in particular has strange effects depending on the light angle. - Can change tone dramatically. seems to be light reflecting from BELOW the top surface?

the only way you'll evenly hide it is with paint

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Originally Posted by havabeer69

the only way you'll evenly hide it is with paint

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:oo: