Jocko Posted September 12, 2010 Report Share Posted September 12, 2010 Hi everyone. A new member here. I am building my first guitar and I am using a Swamp Ash body. I wish to give it a natural finish using only oil or wax but I have no idea what to use. Tung Oil, Tru-oil, Briwax and floor finishing wax have all been suggested. I thought I would ask you guys as, after viewing the gallery, I realise the experts are here. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weekendofsound Posted September 13, 2010 Report Share Posted September 13, 2010 (edited) I think the problem with a wax would be that you would regularly need to reapply it? I've never used them on guitars, but I HAVE dealt with floors before. I've heard Tung oil or linseed oil might work, but I would definitely suggest you test either on a sample piece of wood to check if the properties are going to work/feel right for you. If you are doing this to avoid toxic fumes, I am going to give non toxic acrylic resin a shot pretty soon (within the next month or so?) and I will leave my results under my thread for it. Edited September 13, 2010 by weekendofsound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted September 14, 2010 Report Share Posted September 14, 2010 Waxes are OK for very hard woods that can stand up for themselves against rough wear and abuse like Paduak, Wenge, Maples, and Rosewoods, but for most anything else, the finish is there to offer you some protection against nicks and dings. So I would say all waxes are out for you, and if you're doing a hand-wiped job, Tru-Oil will probably be your best bet. Tru-Oil is a polymerized Tung-Oil (tougher). Real honest-to-God true Tung Oil I would Never use. You might consider some varnishes out there, varnish finishes are very tough, but harder to apply. Finishes sold in hardware stores are usually full of snake-oil advertising, the name on the bottle rarely confers what is actually in the bottle...like for example, you could find a dozen different products with the word Tung in it, but Tung Oil may not even be part of the real ingredients at all. If protection doesn't matter to you, then you can use anything you want to, doesn't matter at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jocko Posted September 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2010 Thanks guys. Had Minwax suggested as well. Thankfully I am just at the planning stage so I have a few weeks to make up my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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