Bloodwood Rocking Chair

Bloodwood Rocking Chair Before

This chair was the rocking chair version of a chair I had done previouslyhttp://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2018/10/sturdy-cherry-chair.html This chair was identical to the first one, except for it being a rocking chair. I made an interesting discovery while stripping this chair. I  thought the first chair was made of cherry, thus the extreme reddish tones and variations of color throughout the chair.

Bloodwood Rocking Chair After

for the same person. You can read about that chair by clicking on this link:

This rocking chair had even more differential color tones in red, yellow and gold, so after some research, I was able to identify the true wood as bloodwood, an exotic hardwood grown in Brazil and Australia. I had never actually worked with bloodwood, but was familiar with it just by working with various woods over the last seven years. As you can see by the “before” and “after” photos, the old stain was hiding the glorious colors and tones of this unique wood.

The stripping process was tedious and very time consuming for this rocking chair, but necessary to expose the beauty beneath. Once stripped and thoroughly sanded, I chose red mahogany stain, as I did for the first chair which brought out the natural beauty. It seemed like the best choice as it worked well before. As with the first chair, I applied two coats of semi-gloss polyurethane for a smooth, even finish.