Tru-Oil Finish

[dwizum]

would Tru-Oil work well with an Ebony finger board?

Yes, but you would need to keep the coats very thin, and stick to a minimum number, if you want to preserve the classic "freshly polished bare wood" look of the ebony. Stewmac's fretboard finishing oil is a purpose made product for dark fretboards and is easy to get a good result with, but if you have tru oil and want to seal the fretboard to prevent moisture loss, tru oil works fine. Ebony needs to be polished pretty thoroughly before applying finish. On typical body or neck woods, stopping at 320 works fine. For something very hard and dense like ebony, I switch to abranet and go to at least 800 before putting anything on.

Also, would any of you recommend Tried and True on a maple neck prior to Tru-Oil (BLO) to enrich the natural grain color?

Try it yourself on scrap and decide!

After decades of screwing with finishes, I've pretty much given up on "apply this first to enhance the grain then switch to this other product" kind of approaches. I see a lot of people recommending a coat of X before using Y, but I've never found that it's worth the trouble, at least when it comes to applying different varieties of transparent finishes on top of each other. Any thin transparent finish is going to penetrate the grain and help lock in "depth" - you don't need a different product to do that. On the other hand, if you want to tint one product, get it into the grain, and then clear coat with a different product - or, you want to use a legit grain filler first, to ensure a smooth finish - those options make sense. But if it comes to wiping on one thin transparent product then switching to a different thin transparent product, I don't think it's worthwhile.

 

[Sponson Thrisby]

I used it on a tele I made from old walnut a few years ago. It was my first attempt, and a bit of trial and error, but it worked out ok. I did about 3 layers, wet sand down with either more Tru-Oil, or a mix with mineral spirits, repeat. Increasingly fine sandpaper towards the last layers. Took a while.

 

[lark_z]

Be sure and keep the coats THIN. I had to redo my first attempt because of my failure to follow this advice. I'd put the first coat on with a rag, then all subsequent coats using nothing but a finger. The one drop on your finger will cover maybe 2 square inches. Don't try to go back over it. It might look splotchy, but this will fix itself with subsequent coats.

 

[Sponson Thrisby]

Be sure and keep the coats THIN. I had to redo my first attempt because of my failure to follow this advice. I'd put the first coat on with a rag, then all subsequent coats using nothing but a finger. The one drop on your finger will cover maybe 2 square inches. Don't try to go back over it. It might look splotchy, but this will fix itself with subsequent coats.

Yes, I forgot to mention thinning it out. Use pure mineral spirits. Sorry, can't recall the ratio.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

As a long time furniture builder and formally trained finisher, I'd like to point out that TruOil is simply a thin wiping varnish, other examples being Watco "Danish Oil" and Minwax wipe-on polyurethane. The slight differences between these products is the ratio of oil to varnish. The more oil-heavy the product is, the longer each coat takes to fully cure.

With these products, you slowly build a film as you wipe on coats, and stop when you're happy with the look. Less coats = a more "in the wood" look, more = closer to a film, even more is simply the long way to a full film finish.

All of these products contain linseed oil and drying agents. All cloth or paper towels used during application should be laid out flat on a concrete floor or submerged in a bucket of water until dry and hard. Do not ball them up and toss in the trash, as they create heat during the cure and can catch fire.

 

[Spirit of Ox]

Tru Oil is a great finish and will not void the Warmoth warranty. I did a neck with the finish applying two coats a day until I had 12 coats. The last two coats were done with a french polish. You take cotton cloth and wrap it into a cotton ball and do circular motions throughout the neck. After letting it cure for two weeks (very important) I than applied a coats of the Birchwood Casey gunstock wax.
I played on the neck for about two months and never gelled with the round and thick profile so I sold it. I would like to get another with the slim taper and P bass width.

 

[Spirit of Ox]

would Tru-Oil work well with an Ebony finger board?

Also, would any of you recommend Tried and True on a maple neck prior to Tru-Oil (BLO) to enrich the natural grain color?

No! don't use it on an ebony fingerboard.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

The closest I've ever come to "woodworking" is giving my cutting boards and fretboards the occasional rub-down with mineral oil. I'm planning on purchasing an unfinished Warmoth neck, and based on all the research I've done I'd like to finish it in Tru-Oil.

Looking at pictures on the internet, I've seen two different kinds of Tru-Oil finishes: flat, smooth finishes that let the wood grain shine through, and textured finishes that look like an oil painting on canvas.

Is this just a matter of quality and using the right process? Are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? My goal is just to protect the wood from any dirt or oils on my hands, keep it moisturized, and bring out some of the character of the wood grain, but I'd like to keep it extremely smooth and silky, not textured at all.

Additionally, for the fretboard should I skip the Tru Oil and just use something like mineral oil or Danish Oil?

Many many coats. The cool thing about oil, is you decide when it's done. You can hit it once or twice, and get the same protection as 30 coats but it will be flat/satin. Or, you can use a clear grain filler, and hit it 10 - 30 times for a great gloss finish. Or anything in between. Hit it a couple times, light sand, hit it a couple times, light sand, repeat til desired results. Simple.

Just know, that your sheen will fade over time. The coating is still good, you'll just have to recoat it periodically to keep the same gloss going.

 

[InstantEctobass]

I recently fell in love with tru-oil. I bought a 1-piece swamp ash Precision Bass body finished in Walnut Tru-Oil... The finish is truly beautiful, gorgeous, the touch is smooth and never sticky... it truly is amazing. I'm about to buy another raw body (swamp ash surely again) and I'd love a white tru-oil finish, if that even exists!

I even was wondering if maple necks (one-piece or two) could be finished in tru-oil only? Tinted? like yellow but not amber... ??

I hate to use someone else's thread to post pictures but couldn't resist.
These photos don't even pay good justice; crappy cellphone quality.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

Try it yourself on scrap and decide!

After decades of screwing with finishes, I've pretty much given up on "apply this first to enhance the grain then switch to this other product" kind of approaches.

Truer words have never been posted about finishing.

The scrap should be prepped exactly as your project, as in the same species (preferably an offcut) sanded to the same grits, same stains or undercoats, the same wait time between layers, applied with the same tools (ex:// brush, spray, foam, cloth...).

If trying to decide between multiple undercoats, mask off or kerf stripes on the sample for side-by-side comparisons. Most oil and solvent based products will nicely naturally amber on their own, without a stain our oil undercoat. More modern waterbourne products often need an amber dye or stain, or some amber dye added to the clearcoat to imitate natural UV ambering.

Never forget that the retail finishing world is a marketing "confusitorium" attempting to differentiate common products. Most "oil finishes" (Tru, Watco, many others) are simply a mix of a polymerizing oil, solvent thinner, and a film forming resin. The oil adds ambering color and helps it flow out, the thinner lets you wipe it, and the resin builds a film, albeit far more slowly than thicker brushed or sprayed products.

Some oils can be finishes themselves, such as boiled linseed or tung oil, but offer less protection without a urethane or phenolic resin component. BLO isn't actually boiled, it's linseed oil with metallic dryers added to help it polymerize and cure.

If you're looking for a hand-applied glossier, smooth finish, a great way to get there faster is to start with a compatible brush on product to build faster, then switch to the wiped product for the final coats after sanding with 400-600.

 

[dwizum]

I'd love a white tru-oil finish, if that even exists!

Nope, not literal true white at least. You can do a white-ish version of tru oil by tinting it with an oil compatible tint or pigment, but it'll always be an amber-tinted white. Among commonly used finishing products, the best way to get a pure white without amber in it is water based varathane ultimate with white pigment. It doesn't carry the amber tint that oil based finishes do, and it can be wiped, brushed, or sprayed easily.

I even was wondering if maple necks (one-piece or two) could be finished in tru-oil only? Tinted? like yellow but not amber... ??

Yes, tru oil is totally fine on it's own over maple. It's probably one of the most commonly done beginner finishes on a raw wood neck. It takes tint fine if you want it yellow. Or you can dye or stain the wood and put the tru oil over that.

 

[groovepump]

I have worked a lot with Tru-Oil on many gun stocks and one guitar body. The OP may be misinformed about Tru-Oil. Tru-Oil doesn't offer two types of finish. There is only one finish possible with Tru-Oil, and that's glossy. You can cut the gloss later with another product, but you can't cut the gloss with Tru-Oil or by method of application. And you can't get a "textured" finish any way shape or form. Tru-Oil is clear and any method of application or gloss modification will result in the wood grain and whatever wood staining or tinting used to show through. You can modify the transparency to some minor degree by mixing in stain or dye, but this does adversely affect its drying and curing properties.

I wouldn't use Tru-Oil on the fretboard; I'd use (and have used) Tung Oil or Boiled Linseed Oil.

Agree 100% with the Tung Oil. Especially for a fretless bass. A hard finish. Brings out the "mwah". And when it finally does start to show some wear lines on the fingerboard, it's simple to add a single light coat to completely restore the fresh look. I'm planning to Tung Oil my fretless P bass. I just can't part with playing it long enough to put the 6-8 coats of oil on it!

 

[Thumpin6string]

Truoil is a super easy finish. Wipe on and let dry. I prefer to use a Scotchbrite pad between coats. I did 6-7 coats on my fretless neck and it came out great. I used it only on the back and headstock since I urethane coated the fret board. For a flat finish, use a gray Scotchprite after the last coat has dried. It gives it a nice silky feel.

 

[MonetBass]

Per my woodworker brother's advice, I stepped through the sandpaper grits between ~10 coats (80-120-220 etc.) then used a green Scotch pad after the last layer when finishing a sapele guitar body we built. It was polished after a week of drying time. Here is the results:

I also used Tru Oil on the back of the neck and on the headstock (mahogany), going over the back of the neck with steel wool after the last coat to make it smooth. As others said, thin coats with 24 hours in between each will give you the best results.

EDIT: I would only use Tru Oil on an ebony fretless fingerboard. Otherwise, some type of fretboard conditioner or mineral oil is fine.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

This one was Tru-Oil as well. I will say it's unforgiving as far as any scratches or or dings you didn't notice prior to oiling it. It goes on so thin that it will NOT fill even tiny scratches unless you really lay on a lot of coats, so spend a lot of time on prep, once the oil goes on, you are more or less committed. This was around 25 coats IIRC, and you can see a couple micro-dings I missed in final sanding, probably dropped tool marks. This was not wet sanded with Oil because I didn't want to risk walnut dust migrating into the maple, but I don't know if that's actually a problem. My Holy Grail finish would be something this easy to apply but that dries really hard and scratch resistant. I'd like to try the Minwax Oil Modified Water Borne wipe-on poly, which supposedly gives a similar ambering effect, but dries a lot harder.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

would Tru-Oil work well with an Ebony finger board?

Also, would any of you recommend Tried and True on a maple neck prior to Tru-Oil (BLO) to enrich the natural grain color?

I wouldn't use it on a fingerboard, I don't think it's hard enough, and rounds would show wear pretty quick. I've been using Stewmac Fingerboard oil, which dries really fast and MUCH harder. Here's just one coat on Rocklite Ebano, a synthetic ebony substitute:

And about 5 coats on Bubinga

 

[MrClassicMetal]

Cool thread. I'm waiting for some Warmoth parts to arrive, so this is useful information. I've ordered water based finishing oil from Crimson Guitars for the job.

 

[RichterScale]

I've heard people mention that a non-drying oil or conditioner on a fingerboard isn't a great idea. It continues to saturate the wood fibers over time and collects/turns to grime.
If a fingerboard isn't a hard and oily enough wood on its own to be left unfinished, I like the sound of the StewMac stuff. A thin layer that seals the wood and completely dries. And dries hard.
On a fretless with something as hard as ebony, I'm not sure I would want a soft layer of something like Tru Oil that would need to be touched up all the time. Isn't the surface of the ebony hard enough, or harder than the tru oil?
I'm doing a Wenge fingerboard currently and it's hard and oily enough that I could polish the wood and leave it bare. The only downside is that it has a lot of open grain where grime can collect, so I'm considering a finish to seal it, so it can be cleaned in the future without worry of any cleaning solution soaking into the pores. The StewMac stuff seems ideal for this.
I'm not a fan of maple FBs, but if I did one, I would definitely seal it. Either the SM stuff or a hard poly.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Let us know how you like it, I’m always looking for good finishes that won’t kill me by inhalation, or trash the atmosphere.

 

[InstantEctobass]

This one was Tru-Oil as well. I will say it's unforgiving as far as any scratches or or dings you didn't notice prior to oiling it. It goes on so thin that it will NOT fill even tiny scratches unless you really lay on a lot of coats, so spend a lot of time on prep, once the oil goes on, you are more or less committed. This was around 25 coats IIRC, and you can see a couple micro-dings I missed in final sanding, probably dropped tool marks. This was not wet sanded with Oil because I didn't want to risk walnut dust migrating into the maple, but I don't know if that's actually a problem. My Holy Grail finish would be something this easy to apply but that dries really hard and scratch resistant. I'd like to try the Minwax Oil Modified Water Borne wipe-on poly, which supposedly gives a similar ambering effect, but dries a lot harder.

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Excuse me, Sir, where do I buy this bass? Thank you