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tru-oil help please!

Dredmahawkus

Dredmahawkus

Nov 4, 2012
1,543
217
Boston
#1
Ok I am doing my first neck with tru-oil....and my first time finishing anything for that matter....and of course I picked an all rosewood neck to do it to! well anyway I sanded it down to 800 and started applying tru-oil a week ago 3 times a day. sanding 800-1000-1500 between coats. now the shaft of the neck looks perfect! eventually all the tiny pores that were left after wetsand slurry are pretty much gone. its clear high gloss and looks incredible! it looks better then I thought it would! there are only a couple wipe lines that I know will come out when I finess-it. now the head looks like crap! it keeps going on blotchy. more in some spots then others. so today a week after applying I decided to sand that back down to 600 put another coat on and it just looks terrible. what am I doing wrong? it looks like it goes on so uneven there and when it drys it looks like theres so much more in some spots then others. am I not putting enough on? I put it on till it almost drys then try and wipe it off.

anyway my question is since I have never done one of these say it is a little more in some spots then others....if I sand it down to 1500 then polish it with finess-it2 will the uneven blotchyness come out? becuase it looks pretty straight when I sand it.

do I sand it down to say 2000-2500 leave it that milky sanded look and just rub that finess-it into it to bring the gloss back? and if so will it look all uneven like it does after I put on a coat or will the sanding even it out before the polish?

I have about 20 coats on now and I am affraid to polish before I know its done.
I know to wait a week or so before doing the final polish.
do I sand before polishing?

please someone who has used this give me some answers! I have been reading about tru-oil on every site on the net all week and I dont understand how and what the final stages are and look like and should be.
 
#2
here are pics I hope they work

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#6
So I just did another coat.....sanded the head with 800 totally smooth and flat then with 1000......I used 1000 on the shaft then 1500. The tru oil goes on smooth as glass on the shaft. on the head it even goes on streaky. looks terrible so I try and put some more on the cotton t-shirt piece before it starts to harden.....and I can feel it getting tacky and looking even worse. I even out all I can and I can see its all streaky. What is going on!!!

the shaft is so much easier! I just wipe very little till its shiny and it looks amazing with no streaks!

I need to know if I sand it smooth then polish it will all those streaks show? even though I still have to wait a week for it to dry totally....I need to know before I polish because once I polish I wont be able to add more.

even the sides of the head look perfect! its just the back of the head. the front of the head is already nitro sprayed so I am only doing the back.
 
#7
Well I am about to give up!

Like I said I decided to sand quite a bit down with 800 on the head. Then I used 1000 to make it a bit smoother. First coat seemed to go on a bit blotchy again so I did it light with 800 again then 1000. This time it went on not that blotchy and covered nice. Now 2 hours later when it's almost dry it's not blotchy and looks like it has scratches all over it! And to top it off I somehow dripped some all over my nitro sprayed front and scratched the hell out of that trying to get it off! Maybe I should just pay my guy to do the head over. The shaft looks perfect and totally filled.
 
#8
I think you might be putting it on too thick. I had issues the first time I used Tru-oil where it was getting gummy and not spreading evenly because it was too thick and I sanded it off and started doing thin layers and haven't had a problem since.

I have a feeling that the reason it was okay on the neck is because the neck isn't a flat surface and you're applying it to basically the inner part of the wood, so it might soak it in more? I could be wrong, but when I had problems, it was on my control cavity cover, which was a flat piece of maple, but I did the same process with my truss rod cover which was a cut off from my neck laminates (with the grain oriented differently than the control cover) and that one turned out fine.
 
#9
Yeah, it the oil wil absorb differently on flat surfaces. Though I think the problem your'e having could be due to the oilyness of rosewood. What you need to do is sand back and wipe with acetone before applying more. This happens to me sometimes when finishing the edges of fretboard of oily wood.
 
#10
I sanded it back last night and trying a different approach. It's kinda like it was sucking it all up in some spots and not in others. I hope I can blend it because I am not touching the shaft!

So I sanded it back to wood then left the dust on there and wet sanded the oil and dust together then wiped it off against the grain. This morning I wet sanded again at like 4 am. At 11am I sanded it dry with 800 pretty grain filled and put on a thin coat that I can tell didn't go on smooth. It's like the wood or tiny piece of t shirt I use sucks up half of it. I am thinking maybe I am not putting on enough? So I am going to wet and again with 800 before bed. Add a coat tomorrow then wet sand again with 1000 tomorrow. Maybe that will build up enough smooth layer to start going on smooth.
 
#11
Oh and I sanded it back to wood 220 320 400 600 with a block this time to make sure the surface is flat!

I now think I might have been able to wet sand those blotches out before. Too late now started over! and ordered more Tru-oil incase this drys up!
 
#12
what I've done to get a nice finish using tru-oil is this.
apply many thin coats to get the desired build (you don't have to sand between coats.)
wait a month+
sand to smooth it out ending up with a wet sand of 600-1000 grit (if the sanding dust collects in little rolls, you need to wait longer, as the finish isn't dry enough.)
polish on 1 or 2 more coats very thin

The worst thing you can do with tru-oil is be impatient.
 
#13
I can't really actually see in the picture where it's blotchy, but does it look kind of like this?

tumblr_mmctou3N7e1qi8q1ao2_1280.jpg


If so, that evened out after I went over it with a Scotch brite fine finishing pad, then buffed with a microfiber cloth. Mine has a satin finish though, so you might not necessarily want to use the finishing pad.

If that doesn't help, I'd say listen to Meatrus and wipe it down with acetone before trying again.
 
#14
Its not really like that.....Its all even for the first few coats....the sheen/satin stage goes on pretty smooth and even....its when the gloss starts building it looks like some spots have a ton more on it then others....although I can feel it has like 8 coats and a total cover over it already.

my picture sucks its my iphone in the basement. when I screw up this coat I will take it outside in the sun and take pics.

if this wetsand method works I will try and post my step by steps....because no one really does....like I have seen wetsand with 600 wetsand repeat with 800 then 1000.....well do you wipe off excess after wetsanding? do you let dry and just sand off next day? no one gets into enough detail!
 
#16
I think I see what I was doing wrong...and I am kinda wondering how I got the shaft of the neck so nice! Ok I move around the tru-oil with my cotton shirt piece and it all but drys up moving it around....so I added more and kept moving it around the head......then I took a paper towel and wiped it all off before it started getting sticky. Is that how you build up coats with this? I was rubbing it on with the cotton shirt piece then just leaving a thin coat wet. which way is right? I cant beleive the shaft looks so good if I was doing it wrong leaving it on there. then every coat I was sanding with 1000. now my plan is put on a coat get it off with paper towel before drying every 8 hours and one wet sand and wipe off a day....till it build up then move to what I did with the shaft....coat light 1000-2000 dry coat light 1000-2000 dry. I am still amazed the shaft came out so good leaving it on wet....it was thin and never streaked. maybe because I have it near the furnace and been keeping it 80+ degrees in that room that it kept the tru-oil a bit thinner then normal.
 
#17
There are a lot of different methods of applying Tru-oil. Wipe on, wipe off is one of them that I've seen people use. I still think you were just putting it on too thick before. It was probably fine for the first few layers because it was still soaking into the wood, but it was probably too thick when it was building up on itself. *Judging from my very limited experience.

If it's working for you now, keep doing what you're doing.
 
#18
Yeah, I have no experience with a rosewood neck, but it does sound like it was going on too thick in the later coats. It usually just rub it in with my fingers and then wipe it down after about five minutes or so. I also steel wool it with 0000 between each coat, usually around 10 coats.
 

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