My friend, a flooring installer, gave me 5mm thick Jabota (Brazilian Cherry) and at a lost where to start working with it after figuring out the laser part
This is my first time working with unfinished wood and first non proofgrade hardwood. Once cut and hopefully not to have a yucky charred edge, I know I need to sand and finish it. What brand of electrical Sanders and finishing oils/stains you use?
I will probably make jewelry for before making something outside my comfort zone.
Well for small projects i use a Ryobi palm sander and as for the stains and oils, i take a scrape piece and try the ones i think will look good, Its all trial and error and personal preference.
Cut up a scrap piece into a 6” long piece. Mark off 1 inch squares and try assorted finishes. If you are using hardwood, try a stain or finish such as boiled linseed oil AFTER YOU LASER. Some finishes are not laser safe. Hardwoods generally look good with stains, waxed, and if you are comfortable, resin
So many finish options! I’ve had good luck with Watco danish oil. For a super smooth finish try wet sanding down to 600 grit and then finish with a paste wax. Here’s a quick summary that can lead down an huge rabbit hole of finishing techniques:
As to cutting, make a bunch of lines half inch apart, each a different color. Put a piece of wood in, import the lines, then try various powers/speeds / passes on each one to see what gives you the best cut.
Yes! I’m not a woodworker so finishing wood is new to me and I’m a but overwhelmed. I always thought I’d stay with prefinished wood from laser material suppliers but the I saw what other people were doing with beautiful raw wood
I guess that works on hardwoods as well? Except for Black Palm, there are not many palm tree species we use. 
Also, I recently discovered that Jatoba may not be Brazilian cherry which is Jaboticaba but another completely different species called Jatoba with a pod-like fruit often called “Stinky toe” in the more normal locations at the ends of branches where Jaboticaba has its fruit in the trunk and large branches
Jaboticaba
|Family:|Myrtaceae|
|Genus:|Plinia|
|Species:|P. cauliflora|
Stinky toe
Legume
Species Hymenaea courbaril
power sanders can be overkill in many circumstances, especially if you are talking about jewelry-sized stuff. For a quick once-over on small edges, sanding sponges in a couple of different grits are really nice to have around (and a lot easier to control for small items).
That said, my Rigid random-orbit palm sander has worked hassle-free for years.
While I had originally purchased them for sharpening carving tools I have found that especially with the harder woods a final polish on flat surfaces with 1200 or 2000 mesh can make a huge difference, especially with the feel, and on the pendants I have been making, it has been as special on the back as the deep carve on the front that cannot be that much polished,
Where oiled surface is created I use Pledge Restoring oil that seems like a nice job
Black palm was such an inconsistent thing to cut, one of the trickiest to dial in settings that I’ve come across. When I read your zebrawood adventures I thought to myself “sounds about like stupid black palm”.
I will keep that in mind (a shame really)
You may find this useful: https://www.wood-database.com/jatoba/
Also per https://www.wood-database.com/wood-finder/?fwp_janka=2550.00%2C2750.00 it’s similar in hardness to Live Oak, Olive, and Rosewood - here’s a post on Rosewood (they were successful…eventually!): Advice for cutting through .44” rosewood with a GF Basic
so were you actually able to get through the black palm? I’m struggling…
Yeah 1/8” but it took multiple passes at high power and low speed. It toasted the wood pretty badly, a good bit of char. It was ages ago, I don’t have the settings anymore. It would be very difficult to get through anything thicker.
As @evansd2 the only way will be with multiple passes. I’ve gotten pretty good results getting through 1/4" Purpleheart, which I believe is a bit harder than Black Palm, but it’s not an easy wood to cut. As with any new material, trial and error and cutting test strips is your best option. On the purpleheart, the best results I had were with Full Power (Basic GF) 150 speed, and 6 passes (yes 6). I was able to cut through with less passes and slower speed, but the amount of char got really bad.
Here’s a picture of the 1/4" purpleheart, on the left before any cleanup, and on the right after a light sanding. This is part of a Catan set I’ve been working on and off on for a while and I didn’t really mind the black edges so I wound up just wiping the edges down with some rubbing alcohol so that the black no longer comes off on fingers, etc.
It’s hard to beat the ease and quality of Danish Oil or a Tung Oil Finish. There are much “better” finishes out there. But those will give you very good results and are essentially fool proof.
Because I didn’t know the differences:
TL:DR
Danish for pretty no-touch-'ems
Tung for constant contact and/or food touching
I know I’m necroing an old post, but this evening I took the perfect photo to show what Tung Oil does, and thought it worthwhile to share
Single piece of mahogany wood, the left and center have been oiled (single coat, not yet dry), the right is plain:
Yes, but be careful. There’s a MAJOR difference between pure Tung oil and Tung Oil Finish. Pure Tung Oil is 100% food safe and a bit more of a production to apply, and it’s a pretty matte finish. Tung Oil Finish has no (or little) tung oil in it and is pretty similar to Danish Oil and can be satin or glossy.
Yeah I did see that (but based on reviews a lot of people get caught by that - and then blame the product :-/)
I’ve ordered some pure because I’m perfectly happy with matte, and I’m always touching 
