Armaan

@Bizman62 @curtisa So the poly mixed well with the turpentine and applied nicely to my offcut. I’ve now applied two coats to the guitar, which dried quite quickly - around 2-3 hours. I left it to dry overnight to be safe anyway. The mix was around 60/40 of poly/turpentine. I sanded between the coats using 2000 grit sandpaper (I should have probably used 600?). 

For the final coats, Im planning on thinning it further - maybe 40/60, to try and get a smooth finish. The current mix applies easily with a rag, but I feel a thinner mix will form a nice even surface easier. Does that make sense?

Btw I tried using 0000 steel wool to sand and it left strands everywhere! So I moved to sandpaper. 

@Bizman62 The solution for drilling the holes in the knobs worked well. Made two pieces of wood with triangular cut outs to hold the knob in place in the vise, rounded them off with sandpaper to fit the curve of the knob and placed a piece of wood below them to keep it stable in the vise. The Brad point drill bit kept the hole straight and I used the dentist drill to expand the holes to the right size. The knobs can now be pressed on to the pots. 

@Bizman62 I agree with what you’re saying. It should not matter how much thinner you use, as its purpose is only to thin the poly and will evaporate after application. I guess more thinner would simply mean more coats are needed to achieve the same build up. 

I’ve got artists turpentine, which appears to be the pine turpentine you mentioned. 

Let me give it a go

1 hour ago, curtisa said:

In that case I'd be guided by whatever the manufacturer says their product can be thinned with and the ratios to which they can be mixed, rather than try and guess.

A local dealer said it would be fine. Checking with the company as well. 

2 minutes ago, curtisa said:

Understood. If it were me undertaking a first-time project I'd probably just choose a product based on the directions on the can, rather than try to blend my own mixture by combining different products. At a basic level that means if you want to try a wipe-on poly, buy a tin of pre-mixed wipe-on poly. If the directions indicate it can be thinned with a particular product, then only use that thinning agent. Keep things simple for starters. 

This makes sense and I’ve tried to follow this as far as possible. But unfortunately, if I were to try to buy wipe on poly in India, it would cost me over 10 times as much as the Berger poly I bought  

Difficult to find properly stocked hardware stores and to find people who know the answers to the questions I’m asking. Which is why this thread gets such a steady supply...

Also, just to be sure, I could just use turpentine to thin the Berger poly right instead of mineral spirits? I believe these are interchangeable solvents/thinners?

The Berger ingredients list “mineral turpentine oil” as an ingredient which I understand is the same as mineral spirits. 

26 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

It looks like Watco and Berger contain more of the "real thing" than Minwax. Thinners like Mineral Turpentine are very cheap so I guess Minwax makes a good profit with their ready mixed stuff!

Seems to be the case. I’m planning to thin the Berger Poly with mineral spirits and give it a go. Let’s see how it turns out. 

Btw I was watching this exact video this morning! Plus some videos by Highline guitars and Brad Asgove - I usually find their videos to be quite informative. 

6 minutes ago, curtisa said:

Is there a reason why you're specifically interested in urethane?

So I assumed that urethane would be required to make the product polyurethane, but I couldn’t spot it in the ingredient list for these products. Unlike these two, the PU finish I bought locally says that it contains Urethan Alkyd Resin (see pictured below). 
 

My objective was to use danish oil to get a nice colour into the wood and penetrative protection, and then apply poly over it to get more protection and a glossier top coat. I’ve now applied 4 coats of Danish and was planning to move on to Poly or a mix of danish and Poly for the top coat.

This is my first wood working project and I have no experience in these matters. Hence the many questions!

Wipe-on poly: I was also looking at wipe-on poly’s and found that the chemical ingredients don’t mention that they contain urethane. They seem to list a bunch of thinners. See below the ingredients for Minwax and Watco’s wipe on poly. Not sure what I’m missing here. 

Watco:

Minwax:

Poly finish: I assume the process for applying the poly will be different than an oil finish right? The poly is a lot more sticky and viscous and could leave application marks. Any suggestions?

7 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Make a couple of blocks with triangular gaps to fit your vise. Put a piece of rubber or similar tacky thin material between the knob and the blocks.

Sounds like a plan! Will give it a try and hopefully this and the Brad point bit solve the issue. Will post an update once done

7 hours ago, JayT said:

I think you've found an old jello shot

Time will tell us what it is!

On 7/10/2021 at 11:08 PM, Bizman62 said:

Thus the holes in your knobs should be just a little smaller than the outer diameter of the shaft but larger than the inner diameter measured from the bottom of the splines. 

So I ran into some problems when attempting this. I don’t have access to a drill press and only have a drill and a table vise. It’s difficult to clamp the sides of the knob (being round) and I can’t apply too much downward drilling pressure in fear of the knob slipping out of the vise (which happened once ).

Another problem is the inner surface of the knobs are curved in a way which makes the drill bit slip a lot. I ordered a Brad point drill bits in the hope that it should keep the bit steady in the pilot hole. 

Any suggestions on how I can manage this process better with my makeshift set up? 

Also I was wondering if filling the hole with wax might help in getting a better fit?

34 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Poly can have a colour which will disappear when it dries. I bought some gym hall grade poly for my floor and it was transparent purple! But it didn't change the pale pine at all.

So weird, but it seems the case with this one as well. I applied it to a walnut offcut to see and it was clear when applied.

As a test, I sectioned the offcut into three parts - one part only poly, second only danish, third danish followed by poly (ie not a mix, but sequential instead). I might also make a fourth piece with the mix. 

Will put up some pictures once I’ve put a few coats.

Looks amazing - even without the veneer!

Looks really interesting. Love the contrast in the wood. 

On 7/8/2021 at 12:18 AM, Drak said:

Pickup theme change.

Was working on another project where the yellow pickups were more required.

So I switched up the cover on the neck (still Satch Track)

And the bridge is now a DiMarzio Gravity Storm I had in the drawer.

Rough-cut the truss cover out.

Cleaned (Naptha'd) the neck, dyed it black, wiped that off, and hit it with fretboard finishing oil.

 

 

 

This looks great. The white and black contrast is great and the lines are really interesting. 

On 7/8/2021 at 8:19 AM, JayT said:

Great stuff! That headstock is so funky. You should definitely build more 

Agree! I like the design

On 2/8/2021 at 3:33 AM, mistermikev said:

 

This is really nice!

Poly: I opened the tin of poly and found that it was reddish brown, which was surprising as I was expecting it to be colourless or light amber at the least. The tech sheet also says that this is meant to be colourless. Has it gone off or started to cure in the tin? The tin appeared to be properly sealed, but not 100% foolproof. Here is what the poly looks like:

@Bizman62 I mixed the danish and the poly as you suggested and they seemed to mix okay. I’ll let it sit for a bit and check again. The image below is the mix, which took the colour of the poly:

7 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

The splines add friction. Thus the holes in your knobs should be just a little smaller than the outer diameter of the shaft but larger than the inner diameter measured from the bottom of the splines.

Crystal clear, thanks!

5 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Oooh! They're pretty!

They really are! The brown ones look even better in person. 

So the hole should be as wide as the pot shaft right? I’m asking because the sides of the shaft are splined. What’s the purpose of the splined shaft?

Forgive me if these are dumb questions, but I really have no clue. Remember I have ZERO woodworking experience before this project

Knobs: I received some knobs from a local supplier. I’ll do a mock up once the danish cures. 

How I go about preparing them for fitting to the pots? They currently have a flat bottom. See the pictures below. 
 

8 minutes ago, Gogzs said:

Even after keeping them under water, it won't dissolve in water, so when you put them out to dry, spread nicely and keep an eye. Just to be on the safe side.

Will do! Better safe than sorry ...

3 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

When the Danish has fully cured it shouldn't be much more flammable than bare wood. It also may help avoiding chipping.

Speaking of flammable, the rags you use for applying Danish and other oils are self combustible. Never just toss them into the trash bin, either burn them or spread them to properly dry before dumping.

Perfect!

I’ve been keeping the rags submerged under water for at least 24 hours. I’m working out of my apartment so I’m particularly scared of it catching fire