Marcel's GAS SGM-1 (PBG build #5)

[Marcel]

It's probably a good thing that you had me thinking there Waz.... cos I went out to the shed just now and took some photos under the workshop flouro lights and now I'm seriously looking at a minimum of two if not three more coats.

Normally I work in shaded daylight, So I guess this is an example of some things that you just don't see in the same way in daylight as under artificial lights....

[wazkelly]

Yeah, looks like a few more coats are required. Are you thinning them down with a bit of turps or just straight from the bottle? I tend to do 50:50 coats after initial 4 straight full strength ones.

[Marcel]

I tend to wait until it's cooler in the late afternoon to do full strength coats. Usually only one a day, maybe one every second or third day.

If I see any imperfections then I'll sand very lightly. Only enough to clear the imperfection using 600 or 800. If I sand at all then I'll scratch up (wipe over) the entire build with the same sand paper that I used to clear the imperfection. If there are nil imperfections spotted then I'll apply another coat. I'll keep applying coats until the overall finish is the way I want for that build and then stop.

In the past I have used just BC TO, and BC TO with the BC sealer/filler, and BC TO with the BC sealer/filler and the BC wax. Each has its own pros and cons in regard to gloss level, colour depth, and visibility of the wood pores.

Out of all my TO builds this build has the most coats of TO, and has the highest level of gloss and so far the least visible wood pores. The additional coats are only affecting the look (and feel) of the build, as by design by BC only one reasonable coat of TO is ever required to simply protect the wood from the ravages of moisture & humidity.

[Nickosaurus]

Lovely colour mate

[wazkelly]

Tend to find thinned down coats help to level imperfections but it means more coats are required in total. 600 - 800 grit sounds a bit too coarse for my liking as I find even 1200 a bit savage and mostly use 1500 for the in between coats wet sanding.

[Marcel]

I tried thinning on another build however with the higher average temps and much lower humidity of my location I often found myself working like Speedy Gonzalez to get a nice even spread before it started going off. Same happens with wipe on Poly coats.... So I tend to prefer thicker mixes that go off slower.

Maybe I should try more test pieces with thinned mixes, if only to rehearse a different technique to get the coats applied....

For all those elsewhere in the world that might be wondering... Typical mid winter 8am to 5pm day for me is 28C and 20%RH with nightly lows of 10C... Summer is 38C and 85%RH....

[chrissyinbkk]

Just the same in the Uk then Marcel... apart from an "F" instead of a "C"

[Marcel]

I think I prefer the C over the F there Chrissyinbkk.....

[Andy40]

Love that headstock shape Marcel

[Marcel]

Thanks Andy...

I wanted it to have a similar 'theme' as the body. It is a first attempt at this shape and done using only a half round file and sand paper, however in recent days looking closer at the photos all I can see are all the errors I made with it...but from a distance those errors seem to fade away...