TeiscosRock Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 (edited) Okay, I didn't really want to be another one of those "people" that post about something that's all around the search archives, but I need to clear something before I do it... Hopefully mledbetter can help Okay, so I saw mledbetter's thread about Tru-oil over Ash, with the thing about thinning it 50/50 with naptha, and was wondering: A ) Does the ash still need sealing? B ) Will this work with unsealed mahogany? Thanks to anyone who has answers! Edited August 26, 2005 by TeiscosRock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 i had abandoned my tests.. but i decided that ash would in fact need to be sealed. Doing a neck with truoil will give you a great finish and it'll cure up great. But truoil doesn't cure by evaporation, it cures by oxidization. In porous wood, you get stuff trapped underneath that had a hard time fully curing. That being the case I would think sealing would help. I will say thinning it with naptha yielded a much harder finish and maybe the evaporation of the naptha allowed more oxygen into the tru oil to aid in curing. I have no idea but it worked. Just takes a ton more coats that way The other pitfal with truoil is that you can build it up to a glossy mirror type shine if you want, but it is not hard at all and will dent. I think if you're going to do tru oil it's better to be happy with a sating type finish than for trying to get lacquer type lustre out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 generally speaking if you are planning on an oil finish you don't want to seal the wood first. the oil soaks into the wood a bit and starts to seal from the inside out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeiscosRock Posted August 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 I'm just researching all the possibilities right now.. i MAY get some sort of project going sometime here soon, just to get my feet wet witht building.. I've got to strip this old MIJ (Teisco) neck that I got off eBay, and see what kind of wood it is, I can't really tel through the finish. I'm thinking about finishing it with Tru oil (now that I've finally gathered enough random infor to figure out how and when to apply coats, and how many to apply). I'll be using it on the body, too (maybe mahogany), and want a nice satin finish, since that seems to be the easiest way to get it durable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unusual71 Posted August 30, 2005 Report Share Posted August 30, 2005 is it highly recommended for finishing a body to mix the tru oil with naptha, also, do i mix it 50/50 and just use as much as i need, can i store the rest? will there be any significant benifits, hardness, shine, stuff like that if i use it with naptha? how about just straight tru oil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeiscosRock Posted September 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2005 is it highly recommended for finishing a body to mix the tru oil with naptha, also, do i mix it 50/50 and just use as much as i need, can i store the rest? will there be any significant benifits, hardness, shine, stuff like that if i use it with naptha? how about just straight tru oil? ← Well, from the other forum, if your using it on unsealed ash, straight tru-oil will be almost no protection. With the 50/50 naptha he got a nice hardness after a few coats, if i recall correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unusual71 Posted September 1, 2005 Report Share Posted September 1, 2005 and what if im using it on an already hard, dense, closed grain wood that doesnt soak too much of the stuff up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanKirk Posted September 1, 2005 Report Share Posted September 1, 2005 Tru-oil comes with it's own sealer and I'd suggest trying the aerosol version since it's already thinned for spraying. I had good results on scrap by using the sealer then wiping on around 15 coats (allow for plenty of drying time in between), level with 000 steal wool then shoot around 4 coats of the aerosol. I sprayed the last couple coats fairly thick once I was sure the rest were fully cured. That was on maple sanded to...600 grit I believe. It came out with a high gloss that gave the maple just a slight amber color. After a year it has shrunk back a little so that I can see some grain lines but since I sanded to 600 grit to begin with it's very subtle. The gloss is still there though. I did the same on another scrap piece where I used a walnut stain (came in a pack with the tru-oil & sealer) on flamed maple. It's nice but I think since I sanded to such a fine grit the flame isn't as 3D as it should be.( ?) I used another scrap piece off the same board and used red dye sealed with shellac. I wanted it to be a little deeper red so I tinted the shellac as well and the grain popped out way more than the tru-oil over walnut stain. These were my long-winded amateur findings, thanks for reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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