ScottR Posted March 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2018 I started pore filling with fine pumice. I find the best way is to sprinkle the powder on and then rub it into the pores with my fingers. Then rub in Tru-Oil, which turns the pumice clear and creates a slurry. It also creates a noticeably harder layer that has a flat or satin finish. Subsequent coats of oil bring the gloss back (learned from my test pieces), and it appears that swatches cut from an old pair of blue jeans make a great Tru-Oil applicator. The tight twill weave seems to leave no lint and any threads that get loose are giant and easy to pick out of the oil. SR 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 5, 2018 Report Share Posted March 5, 2018 Utterly disgusting, Scott. You should be ashamed of yourself, posting such depraved stuff on a Monday! haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2018 Mondays are a depraved sort of day... SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Like @Prostheta said the pumice is a 4F grade fine, marketed by Behlen and purchased from good old Amazon. What I've ended up doing is sprinkling some on the piece that has already had several layers of Tru-Oil applied and dried. I use my fingers to rub the pumice into all the pores and then wipe on another layer of Tru-Oil. The light dusting of pumice remaining on the surface helps create a slurry and it all goes invisible when wetted by the oil. I also found that you can get a pretty solid pore filler by adding more pumice to the surface and wetting with oil. This get pasty and can be packed into the pores easily. When that dries, though, whatever is left on the surface is hard and a bit abrasive. It can be covered in more layers of oil or sanded off, which is what I chose to do. For the final touches of pore filling I've come up with a modification of the typical sanding slurry method. I wipe the piece with mineral spirits which is a solvent for Tru_Oil. Then I wet sand a bit with the mineral spirits and 1000 grit wet -n- dry paper and a foam block. This creates a fine slurry that fills the remaining pores. Then I thin some oil with the mineral spirits and wet sand with that which adds to the slurry and binds it all as it dries. And leaves fairly smooth wipe marks. From there, (here actually as I'm doing that right now), I will add the remaining layers of oil with an airbrush. I'll post up some pics in my thread this evening and add a link to that here.....and probably paste up this post into my own thread as well. And so I did. Here we are with pumice hand worked into the pores. And this is how that looks with Tru-Oil wiped on, slurried, and wiped back off. These last two are what it looks like after sanding with 1000 grit and mineral spirits and then adding thinned Tru-Oil to make a slurry. SR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Next I do a version of a tint burst. Dye does not like Tru-Oil. Nor does Tru-Oil like either of dye's solvents: water or alcohol. But Tru-Oil works over dyed wood just fine. So I mix dye with alcohol and air brush a burst over a dry Tru-Oil layer. When that is dry I seal it in with more Tru-Oil. All subsequent layers are aribrushed on so I don't have to keep leveling and risk cutting into the tint layer. After spraying, I ran into a @RestorationAD situation. A dango dango dog pecker gnat tried to walk on my fresh sprayed coat. He breathed his last there and may become a part of this finish...depending how stout his corpse is. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ScottR Posted March 12, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 I dyed the back with the cavity cover in place so the burst incorporates it. Then on to Tru-Oil coats. SR 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 You'll have to call this finish "Antiques Roadshow Burst", Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 7 hours ago, curtisa said: You'll have to call this finish "Antiques Roadshow Burst", Scott I'm feeling a little dense this morning.....I'm not sure I get the reference, Andrew. Does it look aged, or is there something going on in that show that I'm missing? I've only seen it once.... I wanted a subtle burst and felt like it was getting too dark last night. Now looking at these shots, I'm wondering if it is too subtle. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Natural Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 do you thin the oil any before airbrushing or can it be sprayed full strength? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 3 minutes ago, Mr Natural said: do you thin the oil any before airbrushing or can it be sprayed full strength? It can be sprayed full strength. I'm still trying to find a proper balance though. To get a good flow at full strength you need to spray a wet coat like nitro. But it doesn't dry as fast as nitro, so a wet coat will get runs. Lighter coats get orange peel- which is not a major concern for me yet as I'm still building film layers. Thinning with mineral spirits improves the flow and increases dry time. I imagine the last few coats will be pretty thin. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Damn, that's getting better all of the time Scott. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 8 hours ago, ScottR said: I'm feeling a little dense this morning.....I'm not sure I get the reference, Andrew. Does it look aged, or is there something going on in that show that I'm missing? I've only seen it once.... I wanted a subtle burst and felt like it was getting too dark last night. Now looking at these shots, I'm wondering if it is too subtle. SR What I meant was that the subtle burst and colouring gives it the effect of some kind of french polished 17th century European fine dining table. Although I may have just made things worse by comparing your guitar to a table Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 15 hours ago, curtisa said: What I meant was that the subtle burst and colouring gives it the effect of some kind of french polished 17th century European fine dining table. Although I may have just made things worse by comparing your guitar to a table Actually, I take that as a fine compliment, thank you sir! And I felt like it was a hair too subtle, last night I gave it just a bit more around the edges. That may make it look a little more guitarish. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 As I said, I added a tad bit more burst to the edges. See if you can tell. And after a few more coats of Tru-Oil, the sun got in a nice low position and highlighted some of the figure. SR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 Whilst the Tru-Oil is drying betweem coats, I decided to experiment with my technique for popping the figure in some highly figured curly maple. I've had success with this technique with myrtle burl and zebrano, but have yet to try it with the holy grail of figured woods: maple. I cut a piece off of a small billet that is very old and was originally planned to be some part of the stock of a Kentucky flintlock rifle. It is from the same billet that I carved my iggle from and finished by polishing with micro mesh and soaking with Danish oil. My procedure is first to sand up to 220. I sanded all 4 sides and then masked off the narrow sides.I'm going to pop the figure on the two wide sides and only polish the two narrow sides. So I masked off the narrow sides and dyed the wide sides with a deep burgundy. Then I sanded back with 180 and 220. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 Then I dyed with orange and a little burgundy. And sanded back with 220 and 320. And dyed with amber with a bit of orange. And sanded back with 320 and 440. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 And then polished up through all the micro mesh grits. Next I sealed one wide side and one narrow side with thinned nitro, and the other two sides with Tru-Oil. From there I will shoot a few coats of nitro and then tint the whole thing red and finish shooting with nitro. I'll poish the whole thing up and decide which of the 4 sides and techniques I like best. And I'll have something to do while the Tru-Oil cures on my guitar. SR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 19, 2018 Report Share Posted March 19, 2018 16 hours ago, ScottR said: And then polished up through all the micro mesh grits. Next I sealed one wide side and one narrow side with thinned nitro, and the other two sides with Tru-Oil. From there I will shoot a few coats of nitro and then tint the whole thing red and finish shooting with nitro. I'll poish the whole thing up and decide which of the 4 sides and techniques I like best. And I'll have something to do while the Tru-Oil cures on my guitar. SR Wow... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 20, 2018 Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 Do you do any grain raising? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted March 20, 2018 Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 Amazing work Scott, when I get to Lacquer stage I just chuck on clear. I have this "JUST GET IT FINISHED" approach! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 1 hour ago, Prostheta said: Do you do any grain raising? No, none to speak of. I use alcohol for the dye which supposedly doesn't raise the grain. It actually does just a hair, but it is early enough in the sanding regimen that those fibers are sanding back out well before the clear goes on. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2018 1 hour ago, Crusader said: Amazing work Scott, when I get to Lacquer stage I just chuck on clear. I have this "JUST GET IT FINISHED" approach! Why thank you kind sir. There is a strong urge to push for the finish line when you can finally see it isn't there? It is a constant battle for me to take my time at that point too. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2018 I finished spraying this (I think) on Tuesday and hung it up till Saturday. Saturday I gently broke the surface and began leveling. It is dry but not done curing. Breaking the surface will help it out-gas and cure....and leveling must be done regardless. I got it about halfway leveled and then hung it back up till next Saturday. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2018 I tinted the curly maple piece and sprayed it with Nitro. I stopped the color just shy of red.....more of and IPA tone. So it went spray nitro, gently level, spray nitro, level a bit more......rinse and repeat. Even with an orange peel surface this thing looks lenticular. AS it flips you'd swear the hills and valleys are over a quarter inch deep. I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it when it is polished out. SR 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu. Posted March 26, 2018 Report Share Posted March 26, 2018 Even your test scraps are prettier than most guitars! Do you have a project in mind for the refined technique? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.