Limewash on basswood

[EsquireEsque]

Geez, I can't believe that was 10 years ago!

IIRC the process was to sand the body to the required smoothness.

The theory behind the grain "popping" with the stain is that the grain is made up of differing hardness of wood material. The stain is absorbed differently into the various layers within the grain. The stain penetrates deeper into the softer material. Thus once the stain is applied, you gently sand the surface, which removes the shallower stain, leaving the accentuated deeper stain.

After that you can apply the light coats of limewash - the darker popped grain will still be slightly visible, giving the effect.

Finally the finishing coats of clear to harden the surface and make it tougher to damage.

I hope that makes sense.

Rabz

Yes - that would be the case with Basswood.

Douglas fir has a rather pronounced grain so I'd not need a stain before the Liming white.
It does have a bit more natural colour too.

When I came across your thread here - given that you used the same product I was thinking of (F&W Liming white) I thought to get your opinion of the product and it's results... too many "review" online are simply adverts. Good to come across an actual user.

I see you used the "Liming white with varnish" with some Cobot's water based finish.

Most importantly - if you look at the guitar now - do you still think it's a good product/finish?
Is there a chance of a photo of the finished guitar (10 years later....)?