DikkyBee007 Tru Oil method
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dikkybee007
I thought the idea of the forum was to share ideas and procedures and to help those who needed help. Over the years I have honed my procedures as I don't believe I have to put as many coats as others onto a guitar to achieve a gloss finish. If you want to put more coats on than I do that doesn't mean I am wrong and your right it just means that is your way of doing the same as I can with less material. I have only used TO on 2 guitars and was less than impressed and I can achieve a quicker and more durable finish with other types of finish. Have used TO on gun stocks for about 40+ years and I only require a single coat which then gets a light rub with some sort of abrasive to take the gloss off as light reflection is the last thing you want when hunting. I find a 50/50 Raw Linseed Oil and Turps solution a lot cheaper and just as good and I am about to use it on a guitar I have just received if it gives me the colour I want.
If you make the base material as flat as possible you don't need many coats to achieve a high gloss finish. I sand to 240 then grain fill with Timber Mate if I want to high light a grain. If I don't want to high light the grain I just use a sanding sealer until I get the wood smooth. The finer the finish on the wood the less finish you need. That is why when you paint a car body you don't need 50 coats of paint to get a gloss finish as the base is already smooth. If you can get the base as flat as a car then you don't need as many coats to get a gloss finish. One guitar I put TO on I only used 2 coats and it didn't need any polishing to give a high gloss finish. The body was left natural and I used a sanding sealer and sanded the sealer with my finest Scotch Brite with a cork sanding block across the grain so as not to remove to much sealer and leave the surface as smooth as possible. I have on occasion used a random orbital sander with a piece of Scotch Brite under the felt pad I use to polish. When I apply any finish the surface should appear wet and glossy, other wise I am not putting on enough. I never use a brush or spray gun with any of my finishes, I only ever use a Chux disposable cloth which I can get in a roll cheap. I normally put on 2 coats then flatten, remove any high spots, with my finest Scotch Brite. If you sand through any type of finish you are rubbing too hard, using the wrong grade of abrasive or too long in the same spot. If the finish needs that much sanding then fix the base material preparation or the way you apply the finish. You should never try and fix a badly prepared surface with any type of finish. Once I flatten the surface I then use either a felt/cloth/sponge rubber buff in a drill or random orbital sander with some form of polish but if the surface is smooth enough then it takes very little to achieve a high gloss and on occasions I have hand polished.
As for the pads, I have used the Maroon and Grey to sand wood, they remove wood finely and it doesn't take much to produce saw dust and are great for doing inside curves or along a corner radius and they don't dirty your wood like wet and dry and I use them on my guitar fret boards. Any finishing is done with my white pads. If you press too hard you can leave scratches but you would have to be a gorilla as when I use them the finish is as smooth as I got when I used the 2000 micro mesh, you just need a soft touch. If you use any sort of finishing paper/pad and rub too aggressive or too much pressure you can leave marks even with micro mesh. You should never press harder with any abrasive paper, a light touch is all that is needed. If you think more pressure will help, you are wrong. If more pressure is needed then clean the abrasive or get a new piece. Let the abrasive do its job, it doesn't need you to try and push it through the surface, the weight of a cork block is enough, it doesn't need your body weight to make it work.
These skills didn't just happen overnight, I used off cuts of wood to practice my sanding, applying finish and polishing the applied finish. I tried different types of finish and how to apply them so if nothing else maybe you can open your minds and think outside of the box and wonder why I can get my finish with 3-5 coats and you need 30-50 as I have read in other pages.
You've obviously spent a fair bit of time getting this method correct, and I have a few questions that may help me and others to understand it better.
What sanding sealer do you use in conjunction with the true oil?
Are you staining the wood at all, or are you going natural if you use Tru-Oil?
If staining, then when do you stain, what with, and how do you avoid sanding through the stain if you are staining before applying the sanding sealer?
Does the sanding sealer avoid the Tru-Oil sinking into the wood, as even when I used the Tru-Oil sanding sealer first I still got some sinkage? And sinkage means using more coats.
Have you done this method on veneer, and if so, any special precautions to take to avoid sanding through the veneer?
