Natural Finishes

[Jabba_the_gut]

I've had a look on this forum about finishes and Tru-Oil gets mentioned a fair bit.

I'm looking at finishing a couple of basses (one elm and one wenge/sycamore) with a natural finish but have a couple of questions I'd appreciate some advice on:

1. Do I need to seal the wood prior to applying oil?
2. What other oils work well other than Tru-Oil (thinking tung oil, teak oil etc.)?
3. What about just using wax?

Cheers

[rubis]

It might depend how porous the wood is
I used a similar gunstock oil called Rapid Oil on a walnut bass
They produce their own filler which I used, and on the black walnut core and the maple neck it was fine, but on the Claro walnut facings it was a mare!
It just soaked up coat after coat and wouldn't gloss up, it was all patchy and looked like a Met Office satellite map!
There is a method for filling using the tru oil where you apply it then rub it in with fine paper so that it mixes with the dust and makes a sort of slurry which grain fills and starts your finish process off. I've not tried it but from what I've read it seems quite successful
I ended up removing the finish and doing it with Rustins Plastic Coat which looks great
I will use oil again though, but on different woods!
Good luck

[Jabba_the_gut]

Cheers Rubis. The elm is quite dry and absorbent so I reckon that might go the same way - I'll let you know!!

[6v6]

I always thought with oil finishes you didn't want to seal as it's supposed to soak in? I guess maybe the same applies to wax but not sure.

FWIW I had fairly good results finishing an ash cabinet by using stain (hand rubbed) followed by about 5 coats of danish oil - there is some sinking into the grain but the overall effect is quite good. One thing to mention is it is definitely much less hardwearing than paint/laquer (even more fragile than nitro), although it's fairly easy to repair with more oil.

I'd definitely suggest getting a few scraps of similar/same wood and testing first, I had quite a few test-runs before touching the cab

[Dave Vader]

I've done a few instruments with Danish Oil, rub it all in, leave it over night, repeat until you get bored (my SG has 11 coats of the stuff) it is not hard-wearing, but it does look nice.



And here's a link to the album of the project if you're interested.
[url="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.485840470966.262456.720195966&type=3"]https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.485840470966.262456.720195966&type=3[/url]

[Truckstop]

For a more polished look, you can always top off 10 coats of oil with a few coats of beeswax. You'll get a lovely deep sheen and if you invest enough time in the buffing process you can get a wonderfully glassy finish.

Truckstop

[Jabba_the_gut]

Cheers for the details. I'm trying Tung oil at the moment. I've given it a couple of coats so far - soaks in a fair bit but coverage is pretty even. Going to give it a polish with beeswax when I'm done.

I'll put photos up no matter how it goes!!

Cheers again

Jez

Edited May 15, 2013 by Jabba_the_gut

[nugget]

That's looking good already

[CHRISDABASS]

[quote name='Jabba_the_gut' timestamp='1368650470' post='2079894']
Cheers for the details. I'm trying Tung oil at the moment. I've given it a couple of coats so far - soaks in a fair bit but coverage is pretty even. Going to give it a polish with beeswax when I'm done.

I'll put photos up no matter how it goes!!

Cheers again

Jez
[/quote]

Nice work!!

[DarkHeart]

my original project Jeff Bass was finished in Danish Oil with a coating of beeswax on top and it still looks the same today.

[URL=http://s80.photobucket.com/user/jeffhop/media/IMG_0005.jpg.html][IMG]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j186/jeffhop/IMG_0005.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[CHRISDABASS]

[quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1369501550' post='2089913']
my original project Jeff Bass was finished in Danish Oil with a coating of beeswax on top and it still looks the same today.

[URL=http://s80.photobucket.com/user/jeffhop/media/IMG_0005.jpg.html][IMG]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j186/jeffhop/IMG_0005.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[/quote]

What a beautiful piece of ash!!

[3below]

I finished the oak edges of my kitchen worktops with danish oil 10 years ago or so. It has lasted incredibly well even by sink where it gets wet. Kitchen still not quite finished however, negative wife points.

[DarkHeart]

[quote name='CHRISDABASS' timestamp='1369510131' post='2090026']
What a beautiful piece of ash!!
[/quote]

i agree i cant believe the person i bought it off had it hidden under about an inch of primer! and coming from you thats a real compliment!!

Edited May 26, 2013 by DarkHeart

[CHRISDABASS]

[quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1369601067' post='2090808']


i agree i cant believe the person i bought it off had it hidden under about an inch of primer!
[/quote]

That's just daft!!!

[Jabba_the_gut]

[quote name='CHRISDABASS' timestamp='1369510131' post='2090026']
What a beautiful piece of ash!!
[/quote]
That really is a great looking bass. I'm in the finishing stages of making a bass with an ash body - it really is such nice wood. I might have to have a look at some Danish oil and try on on a few offcuts.

Cheers

Jez

[Mr. Foxen]

Danish oil covers a lot of territory. Some is wipe on varnish and you want to avoid that. You want stuff with tung oil in it, it is basically easier tung oil. Rustins is what I use. I thin it and feed loads to the wood to penetrate over a few days, then do layers of it neat, the more time you put into the initial sanding, the better it looks. Putting it on with fine wire wool does the forming a slurry thing, I wiped it back with a cloth round a magnet to pick up any loose bits.

[Prosebass]

Lots of good advice here. One overlooked oil is Linseed. I used linseed extensively on my builds. It can be applied thinned down with teak oil for the first 10 coats and then applied neat until the wood is saturated. It requires lots of rubbing in and has the advantage of going hard as it oxidizes thus filling in the pores in the wood.

[attachment=135591:DSCN0213.JPG]

[Jabba_the_gut]

Cheers for all the advice. The tung oil I have been using hasn't hardened (if that's the correct term) - if I handle the body, I end up with oily hands. This is about 10 days after applying it and wiping it off etc. Hopefully it will soak in or the excess rub off. The sample I tried was fine but the actual body, looks pretty good but is just oily to the touch.

What I'm finding is building basses is fine in terms of wood work, but getting that quality finish is proving a bit more tricky!!

[Grangur]

[quote name='Jabba_the_gut' timestamp='1369668568' post='2091384']
Cheers for all the advice. The tung oil I have been using hasn't hardened (if that's the correct term) - if I handle the body, I end up with oily hands. This is about 10 days after applying it and wiping it off etc. Hopefully it will soak in or the excess rub off. The sample I tried was fine but the actual body, looks pretty good but is just oily to the touch.

What I'm finding is building basses is fine in terms of wood work, but getting that quality finish is proving a bit more tricky!!
[/quote]
This sounds like the wood you have is already sealed with lacquer. Oil needs to soak in.

The advantage of an oil finish IMO is the repairablity of it. If you scratch or dent it you can repair it with a lot less fuss than having to re-spray it with lacquer.

That said; if yours is lacquered, then if you want to go to oil you have a lot of hard work on your hands.

If you want to stick with lacquer and remove the oil, you can do this by wiping it over with white spirit. After the oil has gone you can bees-wax it.

Don't use spray polish under ANY circumstances.

Edited May 27, 2013 by Grangur

[Jabba_the_gut]

The body of this bass is made from a slab of elm - it was an old desk top or something but had been thicknessed both sides so there shouldn't have been any finish left on it. It was a very dry piece of wood - found a single live woodworm in it so had to treat it for that!! I'm wondering if it was that is the problem though the treatment (suitable for use on furniture) should be able to take a new finish.

The woodworm is another hassle!! I've had to treat the few bits of wood I have around just on the off chance anything escaped from the piece of elm. There were literally just a couple of flight holes (can't tell if they are recent or not) and I haven't seen any traces but I'm not risking it so everything is getting treated.

[Grangur]

Hmm... Treatment does soak into the wood. I recon it's best to clean it off and go for a lacquer. Maybe a matt or semi-matt finish if you want the look of oil.

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