Adventures in Tru-Oil

[mjmeehan]

A few months ago I finished an E.I. Rosewood guitar in tru oil. The sides came out looking sweet, no problems. The back has turned into another story. Most of the back looks fine, however on some spots there is this dull look, like the oil never built up there. It seems worse on the dark areas but occurs in some lighter sections.

In an attempt to remedy this, I cleaned off the lemon oil, and sanded the back, started over with a coat of sealer and re-applied two light coats of tru oil. As this set up I could see the spots reappearing. So I gave it another week before putting the lemon oil on. Same problem. (FYI- I adhered to the tru oil schedule listed on LMI's website, both times)

I'm at my wits end with this. Unless anyone has an idea of where to go next I'll probably just shoot a layer of nitro over the back just to get a finish on that looks decent.

[Tony_in_NYC]

mj,

Someone else here had the same issue recently with a headstock veneer. The tru-oil absorbed into some sections of the wood like a sponge, and in other areas, it sat on top and made a nice finish.
Here is the link:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=566&p=2632&hilit=truoil#p2632

It was Darren that had the problem. Hopefully he will weigh in on this and tell us his solution.
I have never used TruOil so I can be of much help other than the info above. I think rgogo (Ray) uses TruOil a bunch too. He might be able to assist. You could always try PMing them for help if they dont see this thread.

Tony

[darren]

I finally built enough oil up on the headstock to have an even sheen, but there are several spots on the endgrain of my macc. ebony fretboard that never got a consistent finish. You can see them if you look at the end of the FB in the right light - don't tell anyone. I even tried Behlens RockHard (I used on the body) just on the end of the FB and even then, after going through the micromesh, you can still see the 'dry' spots.

Sorry I don't have a firm solution for you... We could have completely different problems though. Ray can chime in here too.

[naccoachbob]

Just for curiosity, could the absorption problem (if that's what it is) have been a result of something happening when you sealed the back? Or do you seal the wood when using Tru Oil?
Thanks,
Bob

[rgogo65]

I really haven't had any issues like this..I have heard of some where some sort of contamination was involved.

Tom Pettingill is probably the best there is and has had more experience with Tru-oil than anyone on the planet..he's also a really nice guy..
here are some pics of his finishes on his custom built lap steels. Tru-oil is all that he uses. :)

http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/tompettingill/

You would have to log-in to The Guitar Refinishing site below to contact him...I can tell you it would be worth your effort...

http://reranch.com/reranch/index.php

If you decide to do so, here's his contact info within the forum.

http://reranch.com/reranch/profile.php? ... e&u=119825

Ray (:0)>}

[Tarhead]

Try using a paper coffee filter to apply the Tru-Oil and continue until burnished with it. I had problems with uneven areas using a T-shirt and saw this somewhere. The filter left no fuzz. I'm assuming the heat of my hand helps also but don't quote me on this.

Lemon Oil? Why are you using this? Does it have Silicone in it? That could cause problems with your finish.

[mjmeehan]

I did seal the wood with the tru oil filler/ sealer. Maybe this wasn't the best choice and a spray on sealer was the way to go.
I'm not sure about contamination, I pay a lot more attention to that when I'm homebrewing not building guitars. Though I was careful to wear gloves after prepping the surface.
I did apply the oil with a clean t-shirt maybe the filter is the trick. As for the lemon oil (Old English), if it does have silicone in it it's not listed on the product or the website. And the top and sides turned out beautiful.

Thanks for the links, thanks for the advice. I'll check the links out and keep working away at it. Sooner or later somethings gotta stick. Ha.

[Tarhead]

I poked around and Old English Lemon Oil is not Lemon Oil and doesn't appear to have any silicone. It's just scented mineral oil and a lot of people use it on fretboards and furniture. I'm not sure why you would want to use it on a freshly finished body but I learn new things every day.

Tru-Oil needs a warm environment to cure. UV light also speeds up curing and some gun refinishers use blacklights. Kathy Matsushita sat her Baritone Uke project outside in full sun and got a really fast, hard finish using Tru-Oil. She was able to get 4-5 coats/day and used a seal coat of Shellac under it. http://home.comcast.net/~kathymatsushit ... bar22.html I have heard of Tru-Oil finish problems happening in cool, dark situations so if you're working in a basement.... I hung my recent uke project finished with Tru-Oil in an unused tub/shower between coats because my shop was in the 50's.

[kencierp]

I know zero about Tru-oil -- never used it. As for lemon oil, perhaps I am wrong but I thought that product was a stand alone chemical for sealing bare wood -IE Finger-boards. I would be concerned about compatibility. $.02

[darren]

Kinkaid suggests lemon oil for a final polish of his oil finish. I actually used Old English on my first, and had no issues. FWIW YMMV etc...