[Tarbender]

So for the last 10 or 15 years I've been using a traditional nitro finish on all my builds. I've seen a lot of talk and some nice builds on the Reranch site using Tru Oil, so I decided to try it. It was very easy to work with and the were no noxious fumes to worry about and the application seemed straight forward and there was not a long curing period... But, I have to say, I'm not displeased but try as I might, I just couldn't get a really glossy nitro finish that I'm used to seeing. Still, I don't think this turned out that badly:

And maybe the satin look might work well with raw mahogany. Any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[Tarbender]

 

[knight_yyz]

The guitar loks great, but if you want super shiny you have to use some elbow grease.

You have to grain fill, and wet sand and wet sand.... It's a lot of work but it isn't hard work. I use the micro mesh pads, start at 1200 and work up to 10000. Then hand buff with terry cloth towel and your favorite car polish. I haven't got to the final polish stage. Just letting the truoil cure for a bit. It polishes better when it "hardens".
On this guitar I put down a coat of Tung oil, let it cure for a week, then a few coats of shellac as i didn't want to grain fill. The shellac is an excellent grain filler. Truoil glides on much better as well. This is my second tru oil attempt. Learned a lot from my first try

 

[BGood]

Wow Tarbender ! I feel like I want to caress it. I love it !

 

[TVvoodoo]

I know if you spray it, it's a bit easier to glossy results too... but you will have a search to find it in aerosol cans anymore, I think. They are supposedly reformulating it. my spray tru-oil results on a tele body.

Granted, It's not any glossier than yours now that I look at it and it looks like you did grain filling to me, and that mahogany is pretty as a picture.

I would have benefited from more grain filling prep work on my tele below.
did you do the neck of your paul too? I do love the feel of my tele neck with hand rubbed tru oil

 

[Tarbender]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I did grain fill with a slurry of TruOil and sanding residue and that worked out nicely. I went the TrOil route because I didn't want to spray but I knew I had that option with a Prevail unit from HomeDepot. I'm thinking that maybe I didn't take into account the high humidity over the last week which could have retarded the curing process. I'll wait another couple of weeks and try polishing again.

I only did the top in TruOil, the rest, back/sides/neck was done with Nitro some time ago and has been naturally reliced from playing.

 

[Granny Gremlin]

I have used tung oil on all by builds/projects since forever. The key to the glossiest finish possible with oil (any oil, and realising that it will NEVER be as glossy as lacquer) is just a millions coats and steel wool buffing. I do not find grain fill to be necessary, but if you did stain, then oiling and sanding back will give you a head start on the gloss. Otherwise slap on the first 2 coats as thick as you can. Elbow grease is the ticket here; heat and friction work it deeper into the wood and give you that depth of grain. Minimum 24 hours between those first few coats and no buffing with 0000 steel wool until the third; need to build up the base first. Then do a coat a day (some days if you get one in early and late it can be 2) with a light wool buff before every one for the next week or so. You can even keep going though it does become a matter of diminishing returns (as regards additional gloss per coat) after a week and half or so depending on the surface.

Lucky for me I tend to prefer matte or semi-gloss finishes vs super high gloss ones.