Hi Gloss Finish With Tru Oil

[nitroburner1000]

Hi guys, dont know if this has been discussed here or on another post but i was reading about how to get a high gloss finish with tru oil and came across this post. If its been discussed you can delete this post but if not i hope it can help someone.
This method is similar to using burnishing oil.

QUOTE

I have a method that was taught to me by Michael Tobias, its roughly a 5 day process

once the guitar is well sanded to at least 180 grit ( 220 is better)
Start with a "soak coat" first
Use a small rag to wipe on liberal amounts of oil and keep the surface wet for 10-15 minutes. Wipe off excess and let dry for as long as you want. but not less than 24 hours. this coat is very important as it seals the wood and the deeper the oil goes the better your protection against moisture later. pay attention to end grains as they soak up more oil.

2. Starting with 400 grit sandpaper. dip the sandpaper in a small amount of oil and sand in circular motions in a small area. the oil will begin to make a paste from the sanding dust, that you will want to push into the grain as much as possible. once the oil/dust paste starts to get stiff-ish, wipe off excess paste going across the wood grain. let dry another 24 hours. woods like ash ( or other wide grain woods) may require a sanding block to keep the wood surfaces flat. Close grains like mahogany and Maples usually don't need a block.

3. Repeat step 2 using 600 grit.

4. Repeat with 1200 grit

5. Take a 400 count cotton sheet and cut into a 12" square. roll into a very tight, smooth surfaced, ball.
use the ball as you did the sandpapers.. dip into the oil and "polish" the wood surface.
when the oil gets warm and stiff-ish,
wipe off VERY vigorously WITH the grain, with a clean 400 count sheet ( balled up) damped with a VERY small amount of orange or lemon oil.
Buff and polish during and after this wipe off step and you should have a very nice glossy French polished finish. be careful of fingerprints.. as the oil drys, it will keep imprints in its surface.
I recommend you wear one cotton glove on one hand to hold the guitar with while you buff. watch for hard items on your work surface. I fact I recommend that you use something soft to do this whole process on.

let dry another 24 and your done.

END OF QUOTE.

Please let me know how it goes if anyone decides to try it. i might give it a go on my next project.

[Rabbitz]

Sounds like a lot of work.

I don't understand the fascination amongst guitar builders for trying to use Tru-Oil to get a high gloss finish. For me it's a bit like trying to get a showroom shine on a car using house paint.

Tru-Oil is a good product, I've used it plenty of times - mostly on rifle stocks. This is what it was designed for. The thing with rifle stocks is it is rare to want a super shiny, high gloss finish. It makes it hard to get a grip on the rifle.

I am sure there must be products out there that are less hassle to apply, designed to give a high gloss finish and are probably cheaper.

Just Sayin'

[wazkelly]

Hearin' you brother.

I mainly use the stuff as it is fairly forgiving and easy to knock a bit off if last coat laid was crap.

Nitro's epic description does sound like a lot of hard work and on my current Tele build I have started to do a similar thing but skipped a few steps as things were not going to plan.

Started the 'Wet Sanding' TO with 600 grit on a body that had initially been sanded to just 120 and after applying 4 ragged coats. After 2 x 600 wet sanded application it came up real smooth with an almost satin finish. The sanding motion combined with recent hot weather had dried the coat off so much that when starting to use a cotton pad it just wanted to grip and rip the finish laid down and was not going there again.

Next 2 wet sanded coats were done with 1200 grit where the TO was mixed 50/50 with mineral turps. Wow, even more silky smooth than before and still looking very satin finish but showing enough depth to encourage me to go for gloss. Will do a couple more at 1200, then maybe 2 more using 2000 grit before doing a proper water wet sand and micro mesh session. All up I reckon 10-12 coats will do whereas on other builds they have had about 20 or more coats and around 3 wet sanding sessions after each 6-8 coats.

Hope to do 3rd & 4th x 1200 wet sand coats on the body tomorrow and will start to do the same on the neck.

[nitroburner1000]

Hearin' you brother.

I mainly use the stuff as it is fairly forgiving and easy to knock a bit off if last coat laid was crap.

Nitro's epic description does sound like a lot of hard work and on my current Tele build I have started to do a similar thing but skipped a few steps as things were not going to plan.

Started the 'Wet Sanding' TO with 600 grit on a body that had initially been sanded to just 120 and after applying 4 ragged coats. After 2 x 600 wet sanded application it came up real smooth with an almost satin finish. The sanding motion combined with recent hot weather had dried the coat off so much that when starting to use a cotton pad it just wanted to grip and rip the finish laid down and was not going there again.

Next 2 wet sanded coats were done with 1200 grit where the TO was mixed 50/50 with mineral turps. Wow, even more silky smooth than before and still looking very satin finish but showing enough depth to encourage me to go for gloss. Will do a couple more at 1200, then maybe 2 more using 2000 grit before doing a proper water wet sand and micro mesh session. All up I reckon 10-12 coats will do whereas on other builds they have had about 20 or more coats and around 3 wet sanding sessions after each 6-8 coats.

Hope to do 3rd & 4th x 1200 wet sand coats on the body tomorrow and will start to do the same on the neck.

Thanks for the feedback guys, never tried the stuff myself but its there if someone wants to be experimental.

[gavinturner]

My issue with this technique is that it implies no stain on the surface. The "wet sanding" to fill holes etc during oiling is all well and good, but if you have colour in the surface it's going to suffer. Personally I find you need at least 5 coats before you think about wet sanding if there is any kind of stain involved.

Just my 2c.

cheers,
Gav.

[nitroburner1000]

My issue with this technique is that it implies no stain on the surface. The "wet sanding" to fill holes etc during oiling is all well and good, but if you have colour in the surface it's going to suffer. Personally I find you need at least 5 coats before you think about wet sanding if there is any kind of stain involved.

Just my 2c.

cheers,
Gav.

Yes Gav, good point and if you added the stain to the TO i think you would still have issues of patchiness

[wazkelly]

On the money Gav as I too was worried with the 'Chemical Wash' on the Swampcaster but when starting after 5 or 6 coats (can't remember and should write things down) did things ever so lightly with 600 and it didn't cut too deep, in fact very hard to tell how many layers of TO it went through. If I had to guess, possibly the last 2 but no more.

Just finished 4th coat wet sanded with 1200 about half an hour ago and also ran out of TO with more on it's way but due to arrive towards end of this week. Looking very satin at the moment but oh so smooth. Will do a couple more wet sanded coats with 2000 later in the week and then start thinking about commencing the micro mesh side of things. Back of neck has only had 2 x 1200 coats done today and it is coming along nicely too.

The main trick with this method seems to be thinning it down with mineral turps to a 50/50 ratio and keep rubbing in small sections with a small piece of wet & dry paper (I'm using bits that measure about 75mm x 50mm) until that section goes dry then add a bit more of the brew to the paper to do the next section. Dipping the paper in the TO brew doesn't work so good and by pouring a small amount onto the paper you can then tip excess back into the container so that you can avoid a very wet and sticky surface to work with.

Doing it this way also helps with sanding out any spots and runs from a prior coat but if done properly there shouldn't be any and only other issue which is same with any product and technique is the stop and start lines if you do top and back in separate sessions. I tend to do one face and sides then hang it up to do the remaining face and switch to last face to work on first for the next coat, and so forth to avoid any uneven build up.

All trial and error but you quickly learn what works and what doesn't.