Since I have heard so many good things about TO I have been testing it before I commit to my nearly finished kit. John was kind enough to send me some sample mahogany last year and now that Im finally back to building Im starting to experiment.
Here is what I have done so far on the sample:
Sanded to 220
Applied TO heavy and sanded with 150 wiped it all off, let dry
Applied TO heavy again and sanded to 220 wiped it all off, let dry
at this point the pores were filled really well.
Sanded 220, 320, 400 tacked and applied light coat of TO with a cotton ball, wiped with clean lint free cloth, let dry.
buffed with 0000 steel wool
Repeat
I am on coat 5 or 6 and its looking really nice, nice semi satin sheen that I am going for and smooth as anything with a great amber color on the mahogany. Im going to keep applying coats until I get the sheen that Like.
All in all I would say that so far this is a great way to finish, very stress free and awesome results
First Experience with Tru Oil
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mdutko
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2012 8:51 pm
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JLT
- Posts: 296
- Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:13 pm
- Location: Sacramento, CA USA
Re: First Experience with Tru Oil
I don't have a whole lot of experience with Tru-Oil, using it mostly on necks, but I have finished some instruments completely with it.
It seems to me that the method you're using, of saturating the wood with the Tru-Oil, runs counter to most of the advice I've heard, including the handouts that LMI gives you and Dave Bagwell's advice on how to apply it (there's a YouTube video on it). What they recommend is that you put the barest trace of the oil as a base coat. Subsequent coats are thinly applied to this base coat ... lots and lots of them ... so that in the end you have a lot of oil but almost no saturation of the wood itself. The drawback of this method is that you have to do all your sanding before the oil goes on, all the way to 1200 or whatever level of fineness you want, because every little sandpaper scratch will show through the finish. (Trust me on this.)
I'm sure that your samples look beautiful, and I understand that your methods work well on the gunstocks that Tru-Oil was designed for. But I'm a little leery of how that method will affect the acoustic properties of the wood.
Using the Bagwell method on my guitar and mandolin bodies resulted in acoustic properties that seem identical to lacquer to me admittedly untrained ear. But I'm interested in what other people have found.
It seems to me that the method you're using, of saturating the wood with the Tru-Oil, runs counter to most of the advice I've heard, including the handouts that LMI gives you and Dave Bagwell's advice on how to apply it (there's a YouTube video on it). What they recommend is that you put the barest trace of the oil as a base coat. Subsequent coats are thinly applied to this base coat ... lots and lots of them ... so that in the end you have a lot of oil but almost no saturation of the wood itself. The drawback of this method is that you have to do all your sanding before the oil goes on, all the way to 1200 or whatever level of fineness you want, because every little sandpaper scratch will show through the finish. (Trust me on this.)
I'm sure that your samples look beautiful, and I understand that your methods work well on the gunstocks that Tru-Oil was designed for. But I'm a little leery of how that method will affect the acoustic properties of the wood.
Using the Bagwell method on my guitar and mandolin bodies resulted in acoustic properties that seem identical to lacquer to me admittedly untrained ear. But I'm interested in what other people have found.