Wenge: Grain fill and oil, or just Minwax?

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I'm contemplating ordering another neck from Warmoth, this time with Wenge. Never had an experience with that wood, but its tonal description and alleged stability appeals to me. I've also heard how nice it feels unfinished but also incredibly porous, and since I live in the tropics, it means high potential of gunk build-up in the pores.

I just want to fill the pores whilst preserving the raw feel of the Wenge, so this is what I'm thinking:

A) Fill it with waterbased wood grain filler, then oil a couple of coats. After the last coat, I sand the neck down, to get the raw wood feel back.
Will the grain filler hold its integrity and remain in the pores even after having the outer layer sanded?

B) Use Minwax soft touch finishing wax: https://www.minwax.com/wood-products/design-series/minwax-design-series-soft-touch-finishing-wax 
This seems really straightforward with much less hassle - I just wax it, let it dry and sand it down to reclaim the raw wood feel and hope the wax has already set into the pores.
But I wonder if this wax is an exception to other waxes? People don't usually recommend normal waxes as grain fillers as they claim they're more of a temporary solution.

It's going to be the only Wenge in my upcoming first-time builds and I'd like to get ready when they arrive, so feel free to school me :binkybaby:
 
Perhaps something more close pored as a wood that can be used without a finish might be an alternative. Just a thought.
 
stratamania said:
Perhaps something more close pored as a wood that can be used without a finish might be an alternative. Just a thought.

I already have necks made of other woods that don't require finishes. Like I said, it's the Wenge's alleged tonal quality and stability that attract me  :)
 
I have an all wenge neck.  I clean the gunk once a year at Christmas.
 
My next neck is a roasted maple neck with a wenge fretboard.
I am not planning on doing anything with it and hopefully I won’t need to since I live in a drier climate. Perhaps the occasional cleaning from time to time. Probably more often than once around Christmas though.  :icon_thumright:
But I can imagine that living in a more humid climate might pose a problem.
I can’t offer any advice but I would very much like to know what you end up doing with your new neck. 
Perhaps the MinWax solution is the right one for you.
Good luck and please let us know how it turns out.

 
wow sounds like you really like creating work for yourself lol. maybe at least try it as is first. who knows, mebbe (maybe) youll actually like it!!!!

then again, some ppl say i am wasting my time with my own personal passion projects. like,... my hard milk and energy ranch experiments have been so successful that i've been thinking about carbonating other things. like BBQ sauce. think about how awesome that would be.

jeez, anybody else feel like they be pulling a Work Icarus? flying too close to deadlines on the wings of poor time management? or just me? it's okay. i'm saving my midlife crisis for the afterlife.
 
BroccoliRob said:
wow sounds like you really like creating work for yourself lol. maybe at least try it as is first. who knows, mebbe (maybe) youll actually like it!!!!

then again, some ppl say i am wasting my time with my own personal passion projects. like, my hard milk and energy ranch experiments have been so successful that i've been thinking about carbonating other thing. like BBQ sauce. think about how awesome that would be.

jeez, anybody else feel like they be pulling a Work Icarus? flying too close to deadlines on the wings of poor time management? or just me? it's okay. i'm saving my midlife crisis for the afterlife.

Your aptly relevant wisdom on milk, BBQ sauce and Icarus in a thread about grain filling a Wenge is mindblowingly enlightening. 

:yourock:
 
I was thinking about this .... Isn't what makes wenge.... Wenge the natural slickness oily wood and large pores ... By filling and finishing you'd change all that.
 
rick2 said:
I was thinking about this .... Isn't what makes wenge. Wenge the natural sickness oily wood and large pores ... By filling and finishing you'd change all that.

Like I said: tropics = likely gunk build up in the pores. Sticky gunk, no less.

Hence my asking if it's wise to sand after grain filling and oiling to reclaim the bare wood feel.

First-time finisher here  :binkybaby:
 
I would just clean it with naphtha, use a tooth brush to get out the gunk, and then put on mineral oil and call it a day.  If you really want to refinish it, then use naphtha to remove the oils before finishing ... but please don't do that.  It won't be wenge anymore.
 
alexreinhold said:
Given that I'm considering wenge as well, do I get it right that NO finish is recommended?

Correct and even though the weather has been strange lately I do not suspect tropical considerations will apply in Germany...
 
I’m curious how tropical it is? I live in FL where a low humidity day is 60%.
My friend has a bass with an unfinished wedge neck and has had zero issues with gunk with normal hand washing and neck wipe downs.
 
Correct and even though the weather has been strange lately I do not suspect tropical considerations will apply in Germany...

At this rate, they will apply but for max 24 hours. Then it will be arctic again. So I guess my wenge will be fine..
 
TBurst Std said:
I’m curious how tropical it is? I live in FL where a low humidity day is 60%.
My friend has a bass with an unfinished wedge neck and has had zero issues with gunk with normal hand washing and neck wipe downs.

Bali. 85-90% average year-round.
 
Bali. ... Nice place.  People there have figured out how to live.  Is that pig restaurant still in ubid?  I brought a guitar there and didn't have a problem though was there only a week. Also went to a guitar factory.  Forget the location.
 
rick2 said:
Bali. ... Nice place.  People there have figured out how to live.  Is that pig restaurant still in ubid?  I brought a guitar there and didn't have a problem though was there only a week. Also went to a guitar factory.  Forget the location.

Ibu Oka? Still there, but it's mainly for tourists. Locals get their babi guling elsewhere. Ubud is the town I live in and can get really humid due to it being in the foothills.
 
I know Ubud.  The nights were so wonderful, and the temperature during the day perfect.  What a nice place to live.  You are lucky.  I was there 6 months after the bombing.  The place was devoid of tourists.  I went to restaurants and my wife and I were the only people and we had a wait staff of 5 attending us.  I'm sorry for the bombing, but it was great, going to temples and being the only people there.  I had a great experience.

I go anywhere, though I'm lucky to have encountered Logrinn.  He pointed out that driving up to arctic circle from Oslo in the middle of the winter to watch the northern lights wasn't a great idea, and that going to Edinborough would be better.  I feel like I dodged a bullet.  Though one of these days I want to get to the arctic to go swimming.  Then I can say I've swum in all the world's oceans.

 
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