This table is made of Kola wood. My customer bought it in Hawaii .
She said it is a common native wood. I did not take a before photo
because it was not that impressive when it came into the shop. It was
quite dark from an old oil finish and the grain did not stand out much.
We just soaked it down with lacquer thinner and wiped it off
several times then a heavy sanding it with 150. After sanding it
looked like mahogany with some sap wood mixed in. We stained it with
Minwax natural, then one coat vinyl sealer and 3 coats pre-cad.
This is only the second time I have ever used Minwax natural. The first
time was on unfinished pine furniture as per the customer's request.
All it did on the pine was darken it a little. I was impressed at how
it pop the grain on the Kola wood.
Steve Nearman
I found in the scrap pile a section of the Koa table top. We shorten
the lenght about 18 inches per customer's request. The picture is
what the wood looked like before refinishing.
