Veneer top finished with Tru Oil: How to smooth?

[TZK321]

I've stopped counting how many coats of Tru Oil I have on my quilted maple veneer top. I don't have many coats left before it's done. The question now becomes how to get it as smooth as possible. I'm hesitant to touch the top with much more than a cotton cloth. I'd be very grateful for some advice.

[colin2121]

I am currently working on a spalted maple cap on a Tele.
The cap is very thin so care needs to be taken.
After six coats of Tru oil I put some Tru oil on a 5cm by 5cm piece of 1200 grit paper and GENTLY dragged it in line with the grain. No cap damage as only smoothing the layers of Tru oil. The key is to have a good layer of oil on the paper.
I will do the same sequence again and then finish with 2 coats of Tru oil before allowing it to harden off for a couple of weeks and then will wax it.
Hope that is some help.

[TZK321]

Great! Thanks very much for the advice.

[JohnH]

I did the same as Colin on my LP, though I think I started with 800 and worked my way up to 2000, using the oil to wet sand. It got pretty shiny. With some more experience I see now I could have made it shinier still if I'd worked at it a bit more, but of course if I'd done that at the time I'm sure I would have buggered it up