Tru-oil Application

[Ken Hundley]

26 years and no booze is something to be proud of.

It is! Hell I have a hard time going 26 minutes!

[deadedith]

Well it doesn't make me a saint or anything, that's for sure. And when you are at the point of stop or die - well, unlike my dad - I was fortunate enough to live.
A long story of which we all have some..(that's an almost unintelligible sentence but you know what I mean :-))
DaveB

[Jonathan]

Tru-Oil is just a polymerized linseed oil with hardners added. The polymerization process chemically changes the oil causing it to oxidize when it is open to the enviornment. One way to save the oil is to simply get little plastic one ounce travel bottles from some place like Walmart and seperate the oil into small bottles. Fill them up to the top and then wrap some green 3M tape stretched tightly around the cap to assure an air tight seal.

I used Tru-Oil a couple of times before and didn't like how easily you could sand through each discreet layer beacuse the Tru-Oil doesn't burn in on secondary coats. This causes "witness" lines if you are not very careful with the leveling stages of sanding. I have been spending a bunch of time with lots of other long oil varnishes and think I have a nice system developing. I use shellac and pumice stone for pore filling and an oxidizing long oil overcoat. The difference between the Tru-Oil and the system I am using now is that the individual coats seem to bond at a molecular level and there isn't any problem with the "witness" lines in the leveling stage. The oil I am using now is also much more resistant to dings and nail impressions and such.

I'll attach a couple of pics of the L00 body I have completed to show the level of gloss achievable with hand rubbing the finish in my bedroom. Best thing is the finish is just about as non toxic as it gets.

[Tony_in_NYC]

Jonathan,
I know nothing about Tru-Oil, so I can not comment on it, but I have a few things I would like to say.
1) The finish you are using looks great! What, if anything, is different about how you prep the body prior to applying the finish? Do you sand to ultra high grits? Please explain. I am considering using something like TO because of the lack of toxicity.
2) Nice guitar! Is it mahogany or Sapele or Khaya? What is Khaya?
3) No body binding? You must have some tight joints. That is impressive.

Tony

[David L]

Tony, Khaya is what you're supposed to say when you karate chop someone!

David L

[Jonathan]

Jonathan,
I know nothing about Tru-Oil, so I can not comment on it, but I have a few things I would like to say.
1) The finish you are using looks great! What, if anything, is different about how you prep the body prior to applying the finish? Do you sand to ultra high grits? Please explain. I am considering using something like TO because of the lack of toxicity.
2) Nice guitar! Is it mahogany or Sapele or Khaya? What is Khaya?
3) No body binding? You must have some tight joints. That is impressive.

Tony

Tony, the body is simply prepped to 220. From there I use the French Polish method of pore filling using wash coats of shellac and then the pumice stone and a rubber to abrade the wood and fill the the pores. This is followed by a few French Polish sessions just to level and get the start of a good gloss, and to add a wee bit of shellac so when shrikage occurs the pores don't become visable again. Then, I overcoat with the oxidizing varnish and polish it out with micro-mesh. The pics I posted have yet to have the final buffing done with the polishing compound. They are still at the 12,000 mesh pad. It will gloss more and it is very hard.

As far as the wood goes it is African Mahogany. John Hall supplied the wood and the Adi for the top. John lives about three hours from me, so I ride up to his shop and I join the plates there. While we are waiting for them to dry for thicknessing, he lets me use his bending jigs to do the sides. I also cut the top and back plates to rough size while at John's shop. I am not doing binding yet, because I am in a one bedroom apartment and that is where my lovely wife Melissa draws the line: NO POWER TOOLS IN THE BEDROOM! So, the builds are done with all hand tools once I leave John's shop.

This L00 is #2 for me. The first one was an L00 as well. And, lets just say it sounds pretty good but looks like crap! John calls it a Mamma Cass guitar. With lots of advice and help from John Hall, as well as Dan Roberts sending me his bracing pattern and brace knifing specs for his L00 syle guitars, this one is shaping up to be a decent little guitar. If I can get the dang headstock to take an even gloss, I can get this one together and done. My pore filling technique needs some work on small surfaces like the slothead headstock overlay.
John hooked me up with some nice Sycamore for number three, and I am actually going to drive back up to his shop and bind it there in Purpleheart. John has truly become a mentor for me and a good friend. I hope to get good enough that one day I'll build a guitar as good as John's #113 was. I wanted that guitar so bad, I would have traded my first born for it. Well, if I had a first born anyway!!!

[Jonathan]

Well it doesn't make me a saint or anything, that's for sure. And when you are at the point of stop or die - well, unlike my dad - I was fortunate enough to live.
A long story of which we all have some..(that's an almost unintelligible sentence but you know what I mean :-))
DaveB

Congrats on the 26 years Dave. I will have 11 years free from, uh shall we say bad behavior, on July 12th this year. Life is much better for me without the strong libations....

[tippie53]

It takes enormous self strength to know you have a problem , and to act upon it. My hats off and my utmost respect for your success .

[Ken Hundley]

I posted in jest, and do have the utmost respect for those that have the strength to recognize an obstacle and overcome it rather than continuing to run into the same wall wondering why life dealt you such a bad hand.

I do happen to like my beer, especially what I used to brew, but 8 times out of ten know when to quit. The other times are my wife's fault for overserving me.....;)