Satin Finishing with Tru-Oil

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mikewaz
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Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:48 pm
Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: Satin Finishing with Tru-Oil

Post by mikewaz »

Great stuff Eric. I did a tru oil finish on my last guitar - back sides and neck - but not the top. I wasn't sure if tru oil would be okay for the top. Do you know of any reason not to use tru oil on the top?

Also, have you noticed tru oil giving an amber cast to white plastic binding or even maple?
Danl8
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Re: Satin Finishing with Tru-Oil

Post by Danl8 »

mikewaz wrote:...Also, have you noticed tru oil giving an amber cast to white plastic binding or even maple?
I used tru oil on my kit just finished that had holly (very white) purfling on the sides. I did not notice a color change, but I will double check with a comparison later today with unfinished cut-off holly. I'll edit this post if I can see any kind of color from the truoil.

8/13 -- follow up... At first look the holly appeared to be completely unaffected by the truoil, until I did a side by side comparison. There is a very slight color shift compared to the unfinished wood, not yellow, but warmer by a few degrees kelvin, something to be expected because there is a coat resin on the wood and reflectivity is different, etc. My eyes are also seeing what I believe to be true, white high contrast wood and relative to the ebony/rosewood it is. A plastic substrate opens up other possibilities for chemical mischief, so maybe truoil isn't the right choice when you need the binding to be clear.
Last edited by Danl8 on Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
mikewaz
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Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: Satin Finishing with Tru-Oil

Post by mikewaz »

That would be great Danl8.

I used Tru Oil for the last guitar I finished. I liked it quite a bit. But I'm nervious about using it again. That's because, about a year later, I have amber splotches showing up on the white ABS binding. But maybe it wasn't from the Tru Oil. Maybe it's from the Z Poxy -- which I also like but am apprehensive to again.
mikewaz
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Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: Satin Finishing with Tru-Oil

Post by mikewaz »

Thanks for that update above. I think you're right about plastic and chemical mischief.

FWIW, I have a close photo of the binding below. It's out of focus, but will give you sense of what's happend. I can't remember if I scraped the binding after the ZPoxy. If I had to wager, I'd put money on the ZPoxy being the issue and not the Tru Oil.
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Danl8
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Re: Satin Finishing with Tru-Oil

Post by Danl8 »

mikewaz wrote:... If I had to wager, I'd put money on the ZPoxy being the issue and not the Tru Oil.
Good picture. I have to agree with you. The truoil finish should be a uniform coating a few mils in thickness; if it is causing issues, those should (could?) be uniform as well. The zpoxy is quite tenacious and at least for me required careful removing over my purfling (I used it as well on my kit). If the zpoxy lingers over plastic, I would think there could be some migration of chemicals into the plastic causing color shift or simply cause the color shift just by the light passing through it in places where it isn't sanded away.
ericschaefer
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Re: Satin Finishing with Tru-Oil

Post by ericschaefer »

Do you know of any reason not to use tru oil on the top?
Tru-Oil is a harder finish than, say, shellac. So it does make sense to Tru-oil the back, sides and neck, but then use something like shellac on the top to "free it up."
With that in mind, an all-around Tru-oiled guitar can still sound great. The reason I don't shellac the top in the article is simply because I was striving for simplicity for the reader. This Tru-oil method is what I currently teach my novice students after their first guitar. Its simple, nontoxic, and lacks expensive equipment so its a great primer for other more complicated finishing projects.

And thanks! I'm glad you liked the articles.
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