Tru Oil Walnut
- Thread starter Vespa_One
- Start date
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The name of the Tru-Oil game is THIN COATS. I like to apply it with a folded up coffee filter, I recommend you do the same, it's cheap and very lint-free.
Sanding to 400 grit should be fine, walnut needs pore filling.
The first coat can be a little heavier, give it a few minutes to soak in, and then really wipe off the excess, give that at least 24 hours to dry, 2 days or more is better. The biggest mistake people make with TO is leaving heavy coats on and expecting them to dry, that's not how it works with this stuff. After that first coat is really, really dried and hard, subsequent coats should feel like you're barely applying anything at all. Two coats per day max (12 hours between). Gently wet-sand with 1200+ grit and mineral spirits every 4 coats or so just to remove airborne lint and keep things level, and apply one or two coats after your final wet-sanding, whenever that may be. The hardest part is leaving it alone for at least a week before even thinking about buffing or polishing.
Buff by hand (I can't stress that enough) with machine polish and a rag of old denim for a nice sheen, or finishing paste wax and 0000 steel wool for a matte finish.
The coats should be so thin that one of the small bottle you can get at Walmart will get you through multiple necks. I applied an absurd number of coats to a maple neck cause time wasn't a factor, and buffed it to a mirror finish like you'd expect from lacquer. The neighborhood of 10-20 coats is enough for a dull sheen or matte finish like I described, double that if you wanna see your reflection in it. Building a film takes forever with TO but it's certainly possible.
It's good stuff once you understand it, albeit only good for small projects for the hobbyist, like me!
Good luck, and share pictures as well as your experience!
Sanding to 400 grit should be fine, walnut needs pore filling.
The first coat can be a little heavier, give it a few minutes to soak in, and then really wipe off the excess, give that at least 24 hours to dry, 2 days or more is better. The biggest mistake people make with TO is leaving heavy coats on and expecting them to dry, that's not how it works with this stuff. After that first coat is really, really dried and hard, subsequent coats should feel like you're barely applying anything at all. Two coats per day max (12 hours between). Gently wet-sand with 1200+ grit and mineral spirits every 4 coats or so just to remove airborne lint and keep things level, and apply one or two coats after your final wet-sanding, whenever that may be. The hardest part is leaving it alone for at least a week before even thinking about buffing or polishing.
Buff by hand (I can't stress that enough) with machine polish and a rag of old denim for a nice sheen, or finishing paste wax and 0000 steel wool for a matte finish.
The coats should be so thin that one of the small bottle you can get at Walmart will get you through multiple necks. I applied an absurd number of coats to a maple neck cause time wasn't a factor, and buffed it to a mirror finish like you'd expect from lacquer. The neighborhood of 10-20 coats is enough for a dull sheen or matte finish like I described, double that if you wanna see your reflection in it. Building a film takes forever with TO but it's certainly possible.
It's good stuff once you understand it, albeit only good for small projects for the hobbyist, like me!
Good luck, and share pictures as well as your experience!
rich815
Friend of Leo's
Just curious, how much does this walnut body weigh? Photos?
It’s just a body blank right now 14.5X20X1.75” weighs 12 lbs.
Pics coming as I get started on the build (not a Tele). Gonna be a Les Paul Jr Double Cut style except one neck pickup instead of bridge pickup and using a Tele bridge.
rich815
Friend of Leo's
Sounds cool. And walnut can be beautiful. I worry about the weight though. In my builds I try to start with a body less than 4.5 lbs as the neck, hardware, etc adds about 3.5 lbs or so and I like my guitars at 8 lbs or less when possible.
Thanks for the info!
We’ll see how it goes perhaps some weight relief will be in order.
El Tele Lobo
Poster Extraordinaire
Check out my build thread: http://www.tdpri.com/threads/reverse-esquire-jazzbo-tele-build-underway.665333/#post-7148579. I got plenty of help from people here and figured a couple things out on my own. Good luck.
El Tele Lobo
Poster Extraordinaire
Oh and we would love to see pictures of that walnut body and also your progress as you apply the Tru-Oil. Build threads are fun!
lammie200
Friend of Leo's
If you want to fill the pores. You don't have to. I actually prefer the open grain look and feel.
El Tele Lobo
Poster Extraordinaire
I have a pine telecaster with an ash top that doesn’t have the grain filled. Really makes the grain stand out and has a cool texture too.
The manufacturer of Tru-Oil, Birchwood Casey, makes a pore filler intended to be used underneath Tru-Oil. Probably would be worth saving some applications of TO.
knh555
Tele-Holic
I would think with the heavier body on a LP Jr Double Cut will cure it of neck dive - better balanced, which might end up feeling lighter.
Yup yup, you're right. I ended up with a kind of half-way-there pore fill on a swamp ash body last year, basically leaving just the really large or deep pores filled, the rest can be felt. It was an awesome result!
I think Sconnie has excellent and nicely concentrated piece of advice here from start to finish. Reflects my experiences too exactly. I've used tru oil with swamp ash, maple and walnut and in my experience walnut started to build film with least amount of coats. I did not aim for mirror finish with my walnut bodied tele like I usually do, I actually needed to dull down the glossiness to get satin finish in the end despite having much less coats that maple top on the same guitar. Here's a link for the build thread for that one, if interested:http://www.tdpri.com/threads/red-hot-tele.613705/
Two things...
First, that red-hot tele is killer! Nice work!
Second, I'm glad someone like you with much more experience than me agrees with "my" method (derived from much research and a bit of practice) for TO.
I agree with the coffee filter method for application. Everytime I try something else I regret it. This time around I thought a sponge brush might be good....nope. Too heavy of a coat. As for buffing between coats, on my current neck I'm going back and forth between 0000 steel wool and fine buffing pads.
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Thanks, glad you like it! I would not describe myself as super experienced though, there are lots of people here with significantly more built axes under their belt and simply unbelievable skills. But never the less I believe it does not require dozens of guitars to find out how tru oil works. You really nailed the point of CAREFUL PATIENCE and not trying to lay down thick coats that is needed for mirror finish. And expressed it very well.
I think TO is for people that get enjoyment from doing the finishing compared to getting it done as quickly as possible. Also the financial logic is reversed compared to commercial finishing. One get's more time tinkering from the money spent for the project instead of maximizing profit for the spent hour. Don't get me wrong, I love having and playing guitars, but for some reason building them is even more fun!
