Sanding+TruOil issues

[Peace_less]

Thank you so much, fellas. I enjoy the process, but it is twice as much fun when I know it can actually succeed.

Now for 30 coats I am starting to wonder how many bottles I will need. I have the 3oz one and another one coming (hopefully) in the mail. I get the feeling I need 5 of those?

How are you applying the Tru-Oil?

Actually I applied it with broad strokes, since I got the feeling it is best to start drying up and becoming tacky altogether. All the luthiers I saw on youtube did it like that. If I can do it per area it will be much easier.

Towards the end, you can thin the TO with turps about 50/50, so it's a bit more liquid and doesn't leave so many ridges in the finish when wiping it on.

I actually like the ridges, as long as they're relatively even across the body. In fact, I have been ogling my Corvette ever since I started the process - the finish is amazing, with the grain alternating between smooth and striped, and it feels awesome.

[Adam Barnes]

After 10 / 12 coats i start using a 50 /50 mix so one bottle should be enough my first bottle did 3 guitars the 2nd did 1.5 guitars all depends on the how much the timber sucks it in

[Simon Barden]

I'd say one 8 oz. bottle should do one guitar, especially if the last 1/3 ends up diluted. Keep cleaning round the screw part of the bottle, as over time you get small dried bits of Tru-Oil on there, and it's easy to pick them up with the applicator cloth and transfer them to the finish.

[Adam Barnes]

true oil po,ished with meguiars scratch x used 3/4 of a small bottle

[wazkelly]

Hi Peace, looks like machine marks were not fully sanded off and are now trapped under the initial layers of Tru Oil. If it bothers you the only way to fix is strip back to bare wood and give it a solid workout with 120 & 240 grit. A lot of newbies make the mistake of getting a smooth feel and moving up through the fine sandpaper grits without realising there could be cross-grain machine marks that have a habit of showing up once tops coats start being applied.

1 x 3oz bottle of Tru Oil will cover at least one guitar & neck with somewhere between 20 - 40 coats, either full strength or diluted 50:50 with turps. Having used TO mostly on all my builds, these days would tend to do about 6 full strength then do light 1200 W & D wet sand. For the next 8 coats would run with 50:50 mix and then do another wet sand, maybe using 1500 grit. About now there should some depth happening and hopefully no obvious overlapping of subsequent coats which tend to look a bit like runs trapped way down below the surface. Periodic wet sanding is the best way to prevent this from happening. At this point it becomes a bit subjective but to bring it home it is best to revert back to full strength and wet sand with 1500 to 2000 every 2nd coat.

Somewhere past 20 coats could be a good idea to do a serious 2000 grit wet sand followed up with all the micro mesh pads, all the way up to 12,000 grit. Inspect things very closely and if it looks good all over, start using the Meguiars cutting compound. On my latest build I have been using Brasso as it takes less effort but can strip lots off and therefore very easy to burn through in places, which has happened a few times thus requiring delicate touch up layers added to the affected areas. Patience is the key and if you stick to the plan and go the distance things will turn out looking like a piece of timber dipped in glass. My build #5 took a lot of time and has 40+ coats. Latest build has plenty of coats and didn't keep track of how many but it should turn out better than the last one. You learn new tricks and techniques on each & every build.

Hope some of this helps and wish you luck.

Cheers, Waz

Edit: There are so many different ways shown on YT to apply this stuff which makes things confusing. Rubbing on until things become tacky may not work out the best as whilst that helps to blend things into prior coats it does not help with promoting a smoother shiny surface. Wiping on all over with a 50mm x 50mm square of an old T shirt folded over a few times and leaving slightly wet works better. Old T shirts have been washed to death and therefore have less fibres to get caught up in the coat being applied.

[Adam Barnes]

Well said waz

[Peace_less]

Well now the advice is getting kind of contradictive, so I will try asking specific questions:

1. What is "tack cloth"? I might've missed this step last time and maybe that's the problem.

2. How do I "wet sand"? With the oil itself?

3. What do I dilute the oil with? Turpentine?

4. If I need to sand off some oil to fix a spot, do I need to sand everything off? How to get it up to the same layer amount?

Thanks yaall

[Rabbitz]

Tack cloth is a cloth that is impregnated with a slightly sticky compound. It is designed to be 'tacky' but doesn't leave residue.

It is specifically designed to dedust surfaces.

Most paint places and possibly BGSFOS will have them.

[wazkelly]

Well now the advice is getting kind of contradictive, so I will try asking specific questions:

1. What is "tack cloth"? I might've missed this step last time and maybe that's the problem.

2. How do I "wet sand"? With the oil itself?

3. What do I dilute the oil with? Turpentine?

4. If I need to sand off some oil to fix a spot, do I need to sand everything off? How to get it up to the same layer amount?

Thanks yaall

Point 1 has already been addressed however you may need to visit a lrge reputable paint or hardware store.

Point 2 relates to wet sanding with water to cut back some of the finish which helps next coats go down better.

Damn phone won't let me see the rest of your post so will respond across a few posts.

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[wazkelly]

Point 3. Mineral turpentine seems to be best stuff to use for diluting whilst still retaining most of Tru Oil's properties.

Point 4. Presume this relates to the deep scratches or machine marks under the finish? Sanding back to bare timber should probably be done all over rather than in sections as it would be very hard to hide large spot repairs and touch ups.


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