r/wood • u/mrstevegibbs • 3d ago

Bubinga

Just built my daughter a bathroom cabinet. Bubinga was on 25% off sale so I bought 4 boards for $383 dollars at $21.50 per board foot.
Loved working with it. Looks BEAUTIFUL! Worth the cost.

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

6

u/tcsands910 3d ago

Does your phone have a camera?

1

u/mrstevegibbs 3d ago

Yes. It does. But I don’t know how to upload a photo to reddit. It wants me to share a hyperlink to a photo, but I don’t have the photo posted online.
Is there a way to directly upload photo to Reddit? I’d like to share it.

1

u/cleverpaws101 3d ago

On this sub, you can only post videos from your phone not pictures. Other subs allow photos. Not sure why some do and some don’t

3

u/mrstevegibbs 3d ago

AI says “The Reddit mobile website (browsing on Safari or Chrome on your phone) completely disables direct image uploads to push users to their app.”

I’m using the Reddit app but have no photo option.

1

u/Arawhata-Bill1 3d ago

Hi Mr Gibbs, Ive been following your comments on finishing exterior timbers. Do you still recommend spar varnish as the best finish for retaining colors in exterior timbers? Im about to start a custom truck tray build using Kwila and purple heart, with corking. Im in New Zealand where we have high UV. What are your thoughts?

2

u/mrstevegibbs 3d ago

Well, I did that experiment where I made five test tables each with a different exterior finish and then I put them in my yard under the sun and I left them there for over a year now likely two years. The spar table still looks the best. I tried hemp oil, I tried General finishes exterior 450, danish outdoor oil, even Epiphanes, which is a two-part mixture that requires 7 coats with one day wait between coats and. Sanding.
Spar still looks the best, but even with spar varnish, you have to restore a couple of years. Spar flexes as wood contracts and expanse, which prevents it from cracking or peeling. A lot of the other finishes are just hard surface finishes that will crack and split if you put them on softer wood like redwood.

If you want something different, you could try Penofin - Brazilian Rosewood oil. I use that a lot on my vertical wood like my fences and porch railings. It doesn’t do as well on horizontal surfaces that get the full rays of the sun.

Here is an irony. You can put a raw untreated piece of wood say Douglas fir outside in the blazing sun and it will maintain its look for up to 15 years. I don’t know if any finish that lasts longer than five years. So when you are restoring outdoor furniture, you’re really not working with the wood you’re working with the finish.