Working with chakte viga

[waltben]

About five years ago my wife was given a couple of squares of this stuff. It sat in our extremely dry basement until a week ago when I was given permission to use them. The squares were only 6" and 5+" so they weren't good for bowls by themselves, but I figured I could combine them with some figured yellowheart and make something interesting. I roughed the yellowheart, smoothing the bottom and glued the larger (rounded) chakte viga to its bottom. Then I turned the combined pieces to an open bowl. The inside sanded well, although I found the chakte loaded up sandpaper VERY quickly as though the wood was extremely oily. I was careful sanding the outside to keep from overheating, but when I'd finished I found a lot - and I mean a real lot - of heat checks. Since my wife has said she doesn't care, I guess it'll become her's, but I'm still perturbed about those cracks. Nothing I've found anywhere on the Internet cautions you about checking when sanding this wood. Anyone have any experience with this stuff?

 

[John Torchick]

I'll be truthful- I've never even heard of this wood. I do like the color and grain. Not experienced enough to give any advice on your question. Hope you can get it solved.

 

[Leo Frilot]

I've used it a few times, but only in pens. I also noticed it loaded sandpaper quickly. Had a few issues with checking at ends. The pieces i used were kiln dried.

 

[Jean Turner]

I have turned Chakte Viga quite a bit in the past. It used to be freely available here in the UK. Chakte Kote turns much the same too.

I resolved the heat-checking problem by turning more slowly with sharper tools (to prevent heat build up), and doing minimal sanding at the end (a light wipe with fresh 240/400 grit); then burnish/finishing with a 'wet' sanding method - in my case I use a finishing wax (a canned paste wax sold here as Colron Finishing Wax) with webrax pads. I think it's a paraffin wax based recipe in an open-top can that is soft enough to be scooped out onto the webrax like a paste floor polish.

The wax sanding seems to keep the surface from overheating, the particles come off as a slurry (not in the air) and the finish is very smooth and fine.

I think your Minwax in a can would do much the same job as Colron. Chestnut's Wax22 is also good, but a little stiffer in formula than I like.

After burnishing with the finishing wax with brown/purple webrax, I give a couple of coats of cellulose sanding sealer/ cellulose thinner (50/50 dilution), wipe off the excess with kitchen towel then a coat of Shellawax (a liquid finishing wax with carnauba) over the top of that. This is applied very lightly with the lathe off, then buffed up with kitchen towel with the lathe going. That method was developed n the days before buffing wheels had become the fashion.

These days I would burnish with finishing wax and webrax, sealer/thinner, and then buff on a wheel, trying to not get the surface hot.

The thinners in the sanding sealer mix seems to take the finishing wax into the wood, putting Shellawax over the top of that in a fine layer seems to work fine. None of the items finished like that have ever shown deterioration over the years (now 15 years of regular handling).

Once I started using that method, even woods like African Blackwood, Gabon Ebony and Pau Rosa finish nicely for me without surface checking.

Hope this helps.
Jean

 

[Harry Robinette]

This wood can irritate the membranes in the nose and can do the same to the eyes. I turn it but it does bother my eyes even with my face shield on.