Finish for Persimmon?

[Chuck Piper]

Hi all,
It's been awhile since I've been here, but I am almost finished with my first build. I have a persimmon fretboard and wanted to know what anyone recommends to finish it.

Thanks!

[Bryan Bear]

Persimmon can look kinda gross sometimes; of it is a nice looking piece, I would consider no finish at all for a fretboard. Just polish it up to a nice sheen. If it is cosmetically challenged, you might try ebonizing it. I suspect the old vinegar and steel wool trick will work on persimmon but have not tried it myself. IIRC, Alan Caruth uses a stain made from walnut husk on persimmon. Hopefully he will stop by and elaborate. Or, try a search with his name and persimmon here.

[Alan Carruth]

Right. I get black walnut hulls (the punky stuff on the outside of the shells) and boil them for a while to pull out the color. It makes a pretty good stain, obviously more or less the same color as walnut. So far I've used it on maple, persimmon, and Eastern hornbeam to good effect.

[Craig Bumgarner]

I'd be loathe to use anything that would hydrate the fingerboard. You might consider the oil based black dyes sold by Stewmac and LMII they sell for fingerboards. Makes a permanent jet black finish that holds up well. Oil based, so no hydration. A little bit goes a long way, I use it frequently and my six year old 4oz. bottle is still half full. Use gloves and apron, it turns anything it touches black instantly.

[David King]

I you want black a few drops of pure transtint black will get you there a lot faster than leather die and it won't rub off once it's dry.

[Dale Penrose]

I just used an oil finish on this guitar. Was quite pleased with the results!

[Alan Carruth]

'Hydrate the fingerboard'? The water is all going to go away in a few minutes, and the wood will end up at equilibrium moisture. How's that going to hurt anything? Now, an oil that stays in the wood, THAT could be a problem....