Tru Oil - All I Need?

[toddler68]

I need some advice on my first project. I've got a neck thru (maple-walnut-paduak laminate) with mahogany wings and the whole top capped with a shallow carved burl maple (1/2 inch thick). I've left about 3/16 inch thickness on the edge to serve as a 'natural' binding. I'm not partial to any particular finish, but I'd like to really be able to feel the burl maple top.

So I'm leaning towards Tru Oil. I also don't want to pore fill it (the pores are more like crevasses) because I like the look - and I don't really want to see a bunch of clear filler (epoxy or CA) in the big cracks. I'd also like to keep the edges of the binding almost totally natural while giving the top a very light amber/orange dye or stain, possibly even a mild burst.

Can I achieve this with only Tru Oil and dye or should I think about using a combination of methods? I think I also read that Tru Oil (or maybe it was Tung Oil) shouldn't be used on purpleheart. Why is that? On that note, will my paduak create a problem considering how oily a wood it is?

Thanks in advance.

[Dugz Ink]

First, there are two types of Tru Oil; the small expensive bottles, or the larger expensive spray cans. I've used both, and I had to go back and re-do the finish on the things that I coated with the spray cans. It could have been the way I was putting it on, but I personally can't recommend the spray cans.

Since then, I have gone to using Gillespie's Tung Oil. This stuff is thick and beautiful. I have built and finished several gun stocks with this stuff, and everybody loves the finish. And it does a great job of bringing out the figure in various species of wood. (Lowes used to carry it, but now they just have the Fornbeys stuff, which is too thin, in my opinion.)

The first time I tried to put tung oil on Purpleheart, it was a disaster; it never solidified. After 48 hours, it was just a sticky scum, and it took a lot of Mineral Spirits and elbow grease to clean it up. I eventually used enough Mineral Spirits to dry some of the oil out of the Purpleheart, and got a good coat of tung oil to stick to it. 5 years later, the Purpleheart has turned a very dark purple... almost darker than the Black Walnut that it is mounted on. There are sealants that work better on Purpleheart, and they will keep it from turning dark... but I can't recall at this moment what I read.

I have another stock that has Paduak accents; the tung oil went on without a problem, and the Paduak turned a beautiful sunset-red. So, no, I would not compare the two woods. Comparitively speaking, it was a lot easier to get adhesives and tung oil to stick to Paduak than Purpleheart. Also, the adhesives did better with Paduak than Zebrawood, and the tung oil did better on Paduak than Cocobola... but that could just be the pieces of wood that I have.

I hope that helps.

D~s

[demon]

i'm not sure if you get it in america, but I have always found that Liberon Tung oil gives the best results. You can either water it down with spirits or heat it in a bain marie until it is quite thin. this is the method I use and I find it works really well on most types of wood, including oily woods, though I have never used purpleheart before at all, so I couldnt comment on how it would work on that particular species, but like dugz ink says, it really brings out the grain of the wood, and the older it gets the better it looks.

[Dugz Ink]

You can either water it down with spirits...

The mineral spirits help with the oily woods because they also cut the wood's natural oil... which are mixing with the tung oil as you apply it. By cutting the oil (with mineral spirits) you can eleviate some of these problems.

However, if you build up the tung oil until it works like a grain sealer (sanding and finishing over and over) then try to put a coat of the thinned tung oil on top, runs can be a major problem. But it's not the same problem that you have with paint running; when tung oil is applied over tung oil, the previous coat can become VERY soft, so wiping off a run (after it has been there for 5 minutes) can lead to a horrible smear of the previous coat(s). That's why I prefer to use thick tung oil; I can lay on a fairly heavy coat and have fewer problems with runs.

But, as you can see, everybody has there personal preference. I'm only telling you about my preferences and experience so you can decide which technique will work for you and your project.

D~s

[Drak]

Another way would be to use shellac.

You can make your own fresh shellac from flakes and de-wax it so you know it's fresh and dewaxed.

You can use any alcohol-based anilyne dye you want for your burst and mix the dye right into the shellac itself. Shellac flakes are liquified with denatured alcohol.

Alcohol to liquify shellac flakes, alcohol-based anilyne dye, a perfect match.

You could brush on the first coat or two to form a base, give it a light sand, then put some in a Pre-Val sprayer mixed with your dye to shoot on your semi-burst.

Then spray on a few more clear coats to seal everything in.

Then finish/buff however you want.

Or thin your shellac down so it's -very- thin so you are barely putting any shellac onto the wood, it's very flexable to however you want your application to go.

Or:

1) You could spray your burst with the pre-val directly onto the wood itself first, then follow with the shellac.

Personally, with a burl, I wouldn't do it this way.

I would probably use the first method.

I like shellac far more than all the tung-oil products out there, but that's just me.

You can mix/thin down your shellac as thin as you want it to be, or as thick as you want it to be for whatever effect you're after.

I'm making a big batch of fresh shellac right now for these spalted wood guitars I'm building. The warm, natural orangey tone of the shellac will compliment the natural spalt color and bring out the figure in the pieces perfectly.

Your dilemma is that you want a paper-thin finish, ...almost NO finish by your description, ...but you want a burst too.

Those two finishes are at odds with each other (sort of) ...but it can be worked out to some degree.

[toddler68]

Thanks for the quick replies. I'm getting ahead of myself as I haven't even routed pickup cavities or bridge holes yet. But this gives me some time to mull it over while I finish these things. After my post, I found a perfect example of how I'd like to finish my project on the LMI homepage: a beautiful job by Mike Doolin.

I'll let you know what I decide. And when I can track down the location of my digital camera I'll post some more pics.

[Dugz Ink]

I love tung oil, but for something like that, I would be tempted to use shellac.

That type of finish just looks right on that type of guitar.

D~s

[GREGMW]

I have used Tung oil (about 8 coats) on the ash body and it came up great -at first.

A couple of (hot) days later it feels quite rough and the grain is very open -not smooth like it was.

I was thinking of using a wax on it and giving it a good buff up.

Is this the way to go or just sand it back smooth and leave it?

Thanks

Greg