My first pitbull, IB-5 five string bass.

[wokkaboy]

ok Sam. Wait a few days. I've found the oils take time to cure and it may darken a little over the coming days.
One thing DB stresses about Dingotone is you need to be patient !

[gavinturner]

Hey Sam, looking great. As wooka said I would just keep at the neck coats. The clear coats can take a few coats to soak into the grain and start to create some definition in the maple. In the end though the clear finishes really do bring out the maple's natural beauty. It's just gotta soak in there some more.

cheers,
Gav.

[Tindrrel]

So it's been a week and then some since I applied the last neck top coat.

What I notice is that the feel of it is very rough. There are lumps as well.

The 0000 steel wool doesn't seem to have much effect.

Should I be trying some super fine wet and dry to smooth it out between coats?

Or perhaps leave that until after the coats have built up a hard shell?

[andrewdosborne]

When I'm finishing neck (I have been recently using truoil) I usually find it takes a few coats to build up. It then, more often than not, starts to feel rough and looks dull. I knock back with a very fine wet sanding (at least 800 grit) then build up coats again very very thinly with a fine steel woolling here and there.

[WeirdBits]

I've found that temperature/humidity combos and possibly over-working can cause the coat to go a bit rough in places while it's drying, almost like a sharkskin feel. I used some 1200-1500 grit (dry) *very lightly* to knock back the high spots and then a light rub with 0000 steel wool to finish up and the next coat turned out nice and smooth again. I think you're probably better off smoothing any rough DT coats before progressing otherwise you'll end up amplifying the problem.

[Nickosaurus]

Yep. I do 4 coats without sanding in between then I'll start steel wooling between each. Never had an issue with rough neck feel with this method

[Tindrrel]

So I gave it a very light wet 1500 sanding. Just enough to take out the bumps.

If the finished neck ends up anything like how it feels now I'll be very happy with it. Minus being wet that is.

It still needs a few more coats though.

[Tindrrel]

Second coat of the body top coat has been settling for 4 days now. (Dingotone final coat)

From it's appearance I'm wondering if there's something I'm doing wrong.



The shiny sections are smooth like one might expect a top coat to be. The duller parts feel like wood.

This was applied with a cloth, swipe following the grain, then swipe next to that and so on across the body.

Am I putting it on too thin or are the shiny parts too thick? Are they what I should expect as the finish?

To be clear, the dull area far surpasses the shiny area. This is the back, most of the front is dull.

[stan]

it could be just a combination of thin coats and varying permeability of the timber: it is soaking up differently across the body. You might simply need to keep going.
DB recommends fairly generous curing time too, as there are no curing agents in Dingotone

[andrewdosborne]

I'm with Stan, I would keep going with maybe superfine wirewoolling in between coats and see what happens (with ample curing time between each coat)