DTL-1SB First build

[DeanCraig]

Thanks McCreed

The Tru oil is on the truck and Pitbull are sending replacement parts due to the hardware not alighing with the predrilled holes which is fantastic

I am looking for a step by step process to apply tru oil to get glossy front and satin back - there are a lot of different approaches between 4 and up to 30+ coats. I could not find a thread that lists the best steps so how does this sound:

1. Check for glue by using a damp rag then clean glue off using goo off and light sanding - at this stage it appears only to be on the sides and not the front.
2. Grain fill with timber mate on sides and back
3. Sand back and sides starting at 220, 400, 600. Repeat grain fill and sand if required
4. Stain sides and back
5. Sand front with 400 ensuring not to break through spalt top
6. Tru Oil - Apply five or six coats of the Tru Oil working in small circles front, back and sides.
7. Sand with 600 grit every 4 coats up to 20 coats ( approx 3 per day)
8. Cure for about 2 weeks
9. Polish front and if required (ie I want a flatter finish) apply satin varnish to rear.

Appreciate your input

Thanks

[Simon Barden]

Seems about right.

The purpose of sanding after a few coats is to remove the inevitable bits of dust, grit and lumps of hard Tru-Oil that always seem to end up in the finish. That's all you really want to do, otherwise you're sanding away the depth of TruOil that you're trying to build up. You are of course building it up enough to sand it back flat for a glossy finish, as 3-4 coats will seal the surface well enough to protect it, though these may wear through quite quickly in places if you give the guitar a lot of use. What you don't want to do with intermediate sanding is apply six coats, then sand five of them off again. So just lightly sand with very little pressure applied, just enough to remove any obvious imperfections in the surface.

Two weeks is the minimum curing time, but if you can wait four, then the finish will be a lot harder with a lot less risk of sanding through when sanding flat before polishing. You want to sand back until you've removed all 'orange peel' dimples, with no bright spots of unsanded finish appearing when you hold it up to a light at a shallow angle. Then you can wet sand going through the fine grits until P2000 or P2500, after which you can either switch to Micromesh for even finer grit sanding, or you can go straight to polishing. I prefer to go to a fairly high Micromesh grit as it does save on the polishing effort.

[Trevor Davies]

Hi Dean,
with regards to step 3 :
Only sand up to 220(240?) after the timbermate if you are staining the sides and body for step 4.

My understanding is that Sanding up to 600 g will polish the timber and affect the absorption of the stain.

with regards to step 7:
Only light sand backs between 4 (I use 5 coats) coats. As Simon said you do not want to remove all the finish and you do not want to sand through the stain. If the finish is smooth I would change to 1200g , then even higher.
Basically build up a surface, then sand -build repeat, until it is smooth and shiny to your liking.
I do 5 coats, light 600 g sand, 5 coats, light 600 sand, 5 coats, light 1200g sand etc working up to 2000g.

With regards to step 9:
I think you can get a satin feel with sanding (with synthetic pads??!! - I think McCreed has mentioned this recently!) Hopefully others will add to this.

I hope this helps.

[Simon Barden]

Yes, too high a grit and you burnish the surface, close up the pores and stain take-up can become very patchy. In general you really don't need to go higher than 180 grit before staining, though sometimes using a higher grit on just the end grain sections can stop those from taking up more stain and becoming darker than the rest of the body. The higher grits get used on the finish.

I haven't used it yet, but you can get a pre-stain conditioner than seems to get good results and evens out the stain absorption, reducing excessive end-grain take-up. No idea what people have used on here but a web search throws up a few hits.

[DeanCraig]

Thanks for the assistance Simon and Trevor.

Based on your posts above I have the plan as follows. Can I chack I have not mis understood you please?

1. Check for glue by using a damp rag then clean glue off using goo off and light sanding - at this stage it appears only to be on the sides and not the front.
2. Front and sides - sand to 180g
3. Grain fill with timber mate slurry on sides and back
4. Sand back and sides starting at 320. Repeat grain fill and sand if required
5. Stain sides and back after masking front and binding
6. Front and sides - x5 coats of the Tru Oil working in small circles front, back and sides. 3 coats per day max. Followed by 600g light sand on back and sides only not front(total 15 coats)
7. Front and sides - x5 coats of the Tru Oil working in small circles front, back and sides. 3 coats per day max. Followed by 1200g light sand on back and sides only not front(total 15 coats)
8. Cure 3-4 weeks
9. Front - Polish front
10. Back and sides - light sand with synthetic sanding pads for satin finish - satin varnish as a fall back

Now I am out of isolation Bunnings calls me ....

Cheers

D

[Trevor Davies]

Hi Dean,

I would:

(maybe mask front and binding before timber mate slurry)

For step 4 - after grain fills only sand up to 240 g (only up to 240 g before staining).

Maybe step 5.2 - after staining you may need to scrape the binding of any stain.

With 6 and 7 you will probably want to lightly sand the front also (to level the tru-oil and remove any debris)

Regards
Trevor

[Simon Barden]

I'd double check the top for glue spots. They generally occur around the edges by the binding and down the centre where the two bits of veneer meet. The places where you'd expect glue to ooze out when pressed and then the glue get wiped off. Ideally wiped several times by a damp rag that would remove the glue - but often it seems by a dry one that leaves it sticking to the surface. You occasionally get the odd fingerprint glue mark on the back or sides, but it's not that common and those that do occur can normally just be sanded off.

Otherwise your plan looks fine. Don't get too fixated with following the plan as things crop up out of the blue to disrupt them. You may find you feel you need more TruOil coats, in which case add them.

Any problems or doubts, just post and ask.

[DeanCraig]

Thanks Trevor and Simon - I feel confident now in the plan and everything makes sence.

Re the neck I was going to Tru Oil that also - there is a stack of different videos with to much conflicting info on Youtube TBH leaving me somewhat . My thinking for finishing is as follows:

1. Cut head stock and sand cuts to shape 180g. Ie not the front and back of headstock
2. Remove plastic nut
3. Sand fretboard, headstock and neck 320g
4. Neck and headstock: Tru Oil x4 coats avoiding where neck goes into pocket and nut slot
5. Neck and headstock: Light sand 1200g then diluted coat of TO x1
6. Maple fretboard Tru Oil x4 coats (oil on fret ok as they are to be polished)
7. Replace bone nut
8. Level frets after taping of fretboard
9. Crown and polish frets

So my questions are for you please:

• What do I need to alter to get the correct process?
• What would be the diluted rate for TO - 4 tru oil to 1 white spirits? Or should I not dilute?
  

Thanks in advance!

[Trevor Davies]

The neck plan sounds good.

re "What would be the diluted rate for TO - 4 tru oil to 1 white spirits? Or should I not dilute?"

I have only diluted TO a couple of times for the last layers. I'm sure I used about 50:50.

[Simon Barden]

50:50 is the standard thinning ratio people on here have used. But only use TO thinned for the final coats, otherwise it will take for ever to build up enough thickness.

Note that TO will thicken in the bottle as you use it as it gets exposed to air and more of the bottle is air, not fluid, so by the time you've got to the last half of the bottle, it's noticeably more viscous than it was to start with (in my experience anyway on a large bottle of the stuff). So 50:50 on a used bottle doesn't make it as thin as you might think it would be, but you might want to use a 60:40 mix on a new bottle. The thinner it is, the better it fills hollows rather than just follow the surface contours, but the thinner the layer your are applying each time.

I've use turpentine (gum turpentine - the oil painting artists type) rather than white spirit for TO thinning, but mainly because it smells so much nicer, especially if you are applying it inside. Both will do the thinning job but if you've got to live with the smell for several weeks, I know which one I'd use.