Special Edition Build off - My Albatross

[Scoops]

Started this a little over 2 years ago.
WallyBird 5

Had some small technical things happened that I overcame, with the exception of one little thing.

The finish never fully cured. Took it to some of my woodworking friends and they all said I probably got a bad batch of Tung oil.

OK, so I elected to completely strip off all finish, and try to get this done.

So here it is stripped, and the first coat of Tung.

This is looking pretty good.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I remember that one. Beautiful wood.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

How do you get sticky Tung oil off? I did some inept Bondo work on my truck once and got the mix wrong, effectively the consistency of clay.... forever. I think the new VOC regs have removed all the good volatile sh*t that used make stuff dry. Hopefully that will dry!

 

[Scoops]

How do you get sticky Tung oil off?

Sanding. And then more sanding. I think I even did some sanding in my sleep. My sand paper would clog up rather fast. I've been working on the sanding since before the Special Edition Start. My greatest concern was with the back. As I sanded down, old oil would sweat out of the wood. Once that sweating process stopped, I thought I'd be OK

 

[kesslari]

Wow. Beautiful.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Re: Removing a never-to-dry finish. I've had that a few times, ugh. The best technique I found was scraping. Use a fairly blunt paint scraper, dragging it across the surface. It will peel up the whole layer of goop and curl it into rolls.

The alternative is to sand, using very coarse grit like 80 or 60. Sand with very light pressure, in long straight strokes, rolling the goop up into little balls. Brush off the sandpaper after every stroke or two.

 

[Scoops]

Re: Removing a never-to-dry finish. I've had that a few times, ugh. The best technique I found was scraping. Use a fairly blunt paint scraper, dragging it across the surface. It will peel up the whole layer of goop and curl it into rolls.

The alternative is to sand, using very coarse grit like 80 or 60. Sand with very light pressure, in long straight strokes, rolling the goop up into little balls. Brush off the sandpaper after every stroke or two.

Yes,

The first step I took was to use a scraper. That took a certain amount off, but not all.
But Tung oil does in fact go deep as I am finding out, so once I scraped, I did exactly as you prescribed. Started at 80 grit and worked my way to 220, which I show

I was concerned that once I got the layer of uncured crap off, the wood continued to sweat out the old crap. Once I sanded low enough to where the wood didn't sweat the old crap anymore, I was comfortable

 

[Scoops]

OK, 2 coats, just a little more to go.

Last time I got to this point, the Tung oil would start turning a hazy white. So I think this is good

 

[dwizum]

That walnut top looks like it was grown to fit that body shape! The way the grain follows the curve is incredible.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

All I got is: WOW!!!

 

[MPU]

That looks stunning!

 

[41hzthunder]

Nice! Well done on your use of the grain pattern.

 

[BioWeapon]

That wood is so pretty

 

[Scoops]

The fingerboard has a little chatoyance to it.

 

[Scoops]

Update

Tung oil seems to have cured up nicely.

Here's a pic with the final top coat of oil/bees wax blend. I'll buff this out a little later today. I may put on a second coat of wax.

 

[Dark Horse]

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Dang that’s gorgeous. I love how the grain follows the body shape.

 

[Scoops]

Maybe the last coat of wax on the top. Depends on how it buffs out

 

[Scoops]

So, this has cured up. Time to cut pup cavities

 

[Scoops]

Giggity!