Blogging Fatso!

[David L]

Here's the neck after 3 sessions of Deft lacquer. I'm going to level sand and do one more session, there's a couple of low spots that I probably could have eliminated with a bit more sanding but I'm skeered that I'm going to sand through the finish so I don't think one more session will hurt. I used Crystalac pore filler and I will say (among many things) that my career of using Crystalac as a pore filler is done. Stuff is a PITA, but I knew that from the reviews before I used it but I wanted a "clear" pore filler so I gave it a try. the stuff doesn't fill pores very well, it takes many applications, and you have to wait about 48 hours to sand or it will load the sand paper to quickly, even then it still loads the paper pretty fast. Now, having said all that, I happen to think that the neck is looking good so far, however, I don't really have anything to compare it to so my opinion of it's looks may be skewed. I know that Ken stated in the caveman thread that he didn't like the results that he got from using it. Something else that I didn't like about it is that if you don't do a real good job sanding back to bare wood it will result in a "hazy" spot or area, you can see what I mean if you click on the picture of the back of the head stock to enlarge it you will see this where the right side of the volute thingy meets the flat part of the headstock, in that crease there is a hazy line, this is a result of excess Crystalac not properly sanded back. Any other hazing that you see in the picture is a result of glare from photography and not excess pore filler.

David L

[David L]

Another thing about the pore filler, and this pertains to the EIR peghead veneer and not the rest of the neck, due to the oily nature of the rosewood, as I apply the pore filler and rub and scrape and moosh and so forth to ensure that I'm getting it into the pores, it picks up the oils from the wood and turns a purplish color, not a solid color (opaque) but a clearish purple (translucent). It's not really that big of a deal, it just kinda blows my whole "wanting a clear pore filler" thing. This is probably not unique to the pore filler but rather unique to the rosewoods. I imagine that other pore fillers will have similer results if they have to be "rubbed in".

David L

[David L]

Good idea!

David L

[johnnparchem]

Looking good!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

You got a nice wet, smooth coat on that neck.
Touche!

Kevin

[David L]

Final session of the neck is done, it's on the 4 week cure cycle now. Spraying session 2 on the body now. Sorry, no pics.

David L

[Darryl Young]

Another thing about the pore filler, and this pertains to the EIR peghead veneer and not the rest of the neck, due to the oily nature of the rosewood, as I apply the pore filler and rub and scrape and moosh and so forth to ensure that I'm getting it into the pores, it picks up the oils from the wood and turns a purplish color, not a solid color (opaque) but a clearish purple (translucent). It's not really that big of a deal, it just kinda blows my whole "wanting a clear pore filler" thing. This is probably not unique to the pore filler but rather unique to the rosewoods. I imagine that other pore fillers will have similer results if they have to be "rubbed in".

I didn't see this with zpoxy.

Everything is looking great!

[David L]

Darryl, now that you mention it, I didn't notice it when I used Z-Poxy to pore fill the back and sides (EIR). Maybe it is unique to Crystacrap, uh... I mean Crystalac.

David L

[David L]

Spraying session no.3 on the body now. Level sanding of session no. 2 came out pretty good, was able to get almost all of the orange peel leveled out. When I level sand session no.3 I expect to get a completely flat surface with no valleys. I'm really quite satisfied (unexpectedly) with how the whole finishing process is coming along (so far). I had built myself up into thinking that it was going to much more difficult than it is with less than acceptable results, however, I also realize that I haven't got to the final step yet, going through all the finer grits and into the polishing process so I'm trying to stay humble and not get cocky. The neck is on the 4 week cure cycle and will be ready for the final sanding and polishing steps at the end of the month.

David L

[Rick S]

Many thanks to David, Ken, John and others for the pictures and posts in this thread. I've found a lot of very useful information and interesting discussion and I'm only through page 4. Great job guys.