Non Laquer Finishes

[chunkielad]

If I wasn't going to have any paint or laquer on a project, what else could I use? - I would want to stain it and then protect it somehow.

i've heard of Tung oil but is there anything else?

[Simo]

Rustins Plastic Coating, it can be buffed to a high gloss or you can rub it down with fine wire wool to a nice satin finish. Have a search for Setch's Les Paul thread for an example.

[chunkielad]

None of the pics work in that thread mate

I'm thinking something that'll leave the grain sort of showing if you get what I mean.

[Simo]

Ahh yeah the pics must of been hosted on Fullserve before it went down, have a look at the ones on his blog...

http://home.asparagine.net/ant/blog

[Devon Headen]

I think he's looking for something like Tru oil. I've never used it, but I've heard a lot about it. Do a forum search for it and you'll find a lot of info. The Rustin's stuff is still a really hard finish, and I don't think that's what he's going for.

[chunkielad]

Devon's Right Simo- I want a sort of 'soft feel' heck I don't know how to explain it!

I'll have a search for Tru oil and see what comes up.

[Mattia]

Devon's Right Simo- I want a sort of 'soft feel' heck I don't know how to explain it!

I'll have a search for Tru oil and see what comes up.

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Look into Rustin's Danish Oil and some wax over the top. Waterbased stains, if you insist on staining, but that should be easily found in the UK (I've never, ever found TruOil anywhere in Europe. Although I have to admit I kinda stopped looking for it..)

[Gemleggat]

You can get matt finish wipe/brush on acrylic finish, wal and patrick eggle used it, both british companies. I don't know what the stuff is called though. its tougher than tung oil.

[chunkielad]

I went to my local airgun shop and he said he's not had any Tru Oil for ages and now just uses teak oil. I went to the local hardware store and got hold of some White Polish. It seems to be like french polish with Bleached shellac. I had a try and it's great stuff BUT will take about 300 coats to fill the grain so - where do I get a grain filler from which will allow me to stain after and still be even and not affect the colour afterwards? Or do i stain, grain fill and then coat?

Edited September 22, 2005 by chunkielad

[Gemleggat]

I used colron antique oil on a bit of scrap limba (very porous like mahog) and built up a good gloss finish really quickly. I wouldn't bother grainfilling unless you want a super high gloss finish, going by your opening post you wanna go with oil or similar? Tru oil is just tung oil with varnish in it to make it a little tougher. Setch knows everything about the rustins stuff which may be an alternative if you cant spray.

[chunkielad]

I used colron antique oil on a bit of scrap limba (very porous like mahog) and built up a good gloss finish really quickly. I wouldn't bother grainfilling unless you want a super high gloss finish, going by your opening post you wanna go with oil or similar? Tru oil is just tung oil with varnish in it to make it a little tougher. Setch knows everything about the rustins stuff which may be an alternative if you cant spray.

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Spraying is something I do a lot - I just don't want the standard high gloss shiny mirror surface on this guitar.

I think I'll go with this White polish and see what happens. Cheers for all the help guys.

[javacody]

I did a little experiment with Tung Oil (Behlen's Pure) and paste wax on top of that. It really looks good. It's shiny and satiny and has a depth to it that really invites you to pick up the guitar and play. Course, this was on alder. I've read about pore filling walnut (another big pored wood) on gun sites, and they used Tung Oil or Tru-oil, and sanded the oil and sawdust into the pores as pore filler. It takes at least six applications (and with Tung Oil, thats at least 24 hours between coats). Personally, I don't like to grain fill.

[chunkielad]

I did a little experiment with Tung Oil (Behlen's Pure) and paste wax on top of that. It really looks good. It's shiny and satiny and has a depth to it that really invites you to pick up the guitar and play. Course, this was on alder. I've read about pore filling walnut (another big pored wood) on gun sites, and they used Tung Oil or Tru-oil, and sanded the oil and sawdust into the pores as pore filler. It takes at least six applications (and with Tung Oil, thats at least 24 hours between coats). Personally, I don't like to grain fill.

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I'm getting good results on scrap with the White Polish - it isn't filling the pores and grain quite enough for my liking but it's going to be reasonable. I don't want to sand the sycamore too much and kill the flame - my other concern now is where to get a decent dye from over here as I've had to use food colouring for my tests and wouldn't like to use that on the final guitar!

[Simo]

I used Danish oil on a Mahogany bass I re-finished for someone earlier this year (Pic) it was easy to use and worked well with the stain....but it was so susceptible to being scratched and marked I don't think I'd use it again, not on Mahogany anyway.

[chunkielad]

I used Danish oil on a Mahogany bass I re-finished for someone earlier this year (Pic) it was easy to use and worked well with the stain....but it was so susceptible to being scratched and marked I don't think I'd use it again, not on Mahogany anyway.

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That looks great fella! Shame it's not tough - my samples with the white polish seem to get a tougher finnish to them than I expected. The danish looks gorgeous though!