# Bleeding Bloodwood?



## Wingstress (Oct 10, 2008)

I know this question has been asked before, but I can't seem to get a good answer. I just did a marquetry inlay with bloodwood and Satin wood (yellow heart). I intend to scrape, not sand, and then use compressed air to blow away the red dust. However, I know from experience as soon as I touch that stuff with poly or shellac or what ever, its gonna bleed. So I was wondering if there was a sealer or anything I can put on it that doesn't bleed? Can I use some tung oil followed by some shellac or top coat poly or something? Thanks!


----------



## Doss (Mar 14, 2012)

I'll go into this with the disclaimer that I am not an expert on finishes, but here's some ideas:

Try a spray on finish
Try an oil finish
Try sanding sealer

I don't know much else to tell you, but from what I've read, bloodwood likes to bleed into lighter woods.


----------



## majeagle1 (Oct 29, 2008)

This is what I have done and it seems to work well for me:
Either complete your sanding / scraping, then blow all the red dust away as you plan….. then:
I wipe the surface with Mineral Spirits and that seems to get rid of 99% of the slight pinkish tone that was left.
Then go ahead with your finish…..

It has worked for me using bloodwood and Curly Maple…...


----------



## Sirgreggins (Apr 12, 2012)

i would just put some painters tape down over the other woods you dont want it to bleed on and do the shellac. If thats not viable because you have a lot of small pieces i agree with Doss, try a spray finish


----------



## Wingstress (Oct 10, 2008)

Hey thanks everyone, this is what I ended up doing. It worked great!

scrape (no sand)
wipe with mineral spirits
spray shellac
finish with poly

Here is the project post and video
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/67783#comment-1292356


----------

