a few q's. some quite dumb.

rightintheface

Senior Member
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326
g'day guys
im thinking of doing a black korina hollow tele with black binding and tung oil finish, unfinished wenge neck, but i have a couple of questions..

i seem to have heard lots of different advice on how to apply tung oil. could someone just slap on a quick set of instructions?
how glossy does tung oil turn out?
(here comes the dumb question) how do you finish it without leaning it on something? what i mean is, should i hang it up using a hook through one of the neck holes (this is on the body by the way) and finish it whilst hanging, or should i do one side and then the other? i figured that doing one side at a time could build up an inconsistent finish (overlaps etc), but i hav little to know experience in finishing wood, so any advice would be awesome.
cheers guys
 
G'day back!
There are heaps of posts in this section about tung oil finishes, some quite recent. CB posted a beauty not long ago so check his work on that score. You won't get better advice than from CB.
How to hold the body? attach a piece of wood to the neck pocket. Some people use the neck holes, others just screw the wood into the neck pocket.
 

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>JR< said:
Good day.

D'ya think he'll understand that? Strewth JR....he might be from Queensland! We could have a three way interstate war!!! :blob7: :blob7: :eek:ccasion14: :hello2: :hello2:
 
damn queenslanders with there heads in the clouds! well i guess that if he is from queensland, at least we can be thankfull that he is, one: on the east coast, and two: Not so far down south in tasmania where his brother is his mother, and his dad is his younger sister. :tard: :tard:

but if i war did happen to break out, our asian mayor will lead us melbournians into battle with glory...... sorta.    (man i wish he could speak english) 
 
All pollies sound the same to me.......doesn't matter what language they speak it all comes out of their quoit anyway.. :dontknow:
 
One question I'd have, is how you handle the binding doing a tung oil finish? The '54 Goldtop Tele project I'm working on has a cream binding and keeping it masked off is a royal pain, but when you get to the clearcoats, which will be lacquer in my case, you just spray over it.

Has anybody done a tung oil finish on a body with binding? Don't recall seeing one here... Any issues/tricks getting the finish started, hoe well does tung oil adhere to plastic, etc.?
 
jackthehack said:
One question I'd have, is how you handle the binding doing a tung oil finish? The '54 Goldtop Tele project I'm working on has a cream binding and keeping it masked off is a royal pain, but when you get to the clearcoats, which will be lacquer in my case, you just spray over it.

Has anybody done a tung oil finish on a body with binding? Don't recall seeing one here... Any issues/tricks getting the finish started, hoe well does tung oil adhere to plastic, etc.?

I'm expecting to receive a korina/koa body shortly. That has binding on it and I plan a tung oil finish. I will keep you posted, should be interesting.
 
ibob74 said:
I would guess the tung oil would wipe right off the binding.

I'm actually flying blind on this one as I've never done a body with binding. I ordered ivoroid which has a textured surface. My idea is not to mask it at all. I'm planning to use sand seal, then dark grainfiller then the tung oil. What I am trying to achieve is a color fill in the bindings 'pores'  I don't know how it's going to turn out but it can't hurt to try. I won't be using any agressive solvents so it shouldn't destroy anything.............once more into the breach!!! :dontknow:
 
actually lads i'm from nsw, just south of sydney (kiama, if you're interested). you guys are melbourne, yeah?
a quick queston for you guys then: how much import tax (approx) hdo you guys pay on warmoth gear? i'm looking at around $800US worth of warmoth shite, whats the go with import tax? i've never dealt with any overseas stuff, so i consider mysef to be losing my virginity in this field.
and yeah, i wasn't sure about binding. i figured i'd wing it. if it stuffs up. um. well yeah. it's stuffed  :binkybaby:
 
JR is the mexican in this little menage......I live err..right in your face. Mt Ousley. As far as importing stuff goes you are pretty right if you keep the invoice under an Aussie grand. With the exchange rate as it is presently you are nice and safe with $800US but remember to factor in about $100US for shipping which brings you up to 9 and you get invoiced when they ship so you might get caught if the Aussie buck drops its guts. When in doubt split your order, I do, and you'll be right. Don't fall down the blowhole :headbang:
 
I think you'll find the oil finishes relatively forgiving if applied correctly, that is, so thin they seem to not be there at all.

Remember:  oil finishes need air to dry, and more oil "hides" the undercoats from that air they need.  Thick coats of oil finishes will gum, as the thickness of things is preventing air from getting into it.  THIN is the key.  If you've ever seen a skin form on the top of the Tru-Oil, you'll know what gum is.... I don't particularly like that stuff.

Anyway, do the regular wood prep, that is - get it smooth and all grain filled.  Oil will not fill the pores much, so if you think you've got it all filled, do it again!  Its yer last chance!

Apply first coat of oil THINNED with turpentine.  This is for better first coat penetration.  Let it dry, and here's the kicker, for weeks!  Apply second coat full strength.  Wipe all of it off.  I mean ALL of it off.  Let it dry at least a week.  No matter what you think, no matter what you want, no matter how it looks or smells or anything... LET IT DRY.  Reapply.  Wipe it ALL off again.  Let it dry a week, or longer... sounding like a broken record.

Do that six or eight times over 8 to 12 weeks.  Finally just let it dry.  Dont buff it, dont do anything to it.  Just let it dry.  Give it a month.  Assemble it if you wish, but dont buff.  After a good long time, you can buff it a bit, or wax it.  Disassemble it if you do.  And thats that.

Hanging the body from a piece of wire through the neck attachment hole works ok for oil finishing.  Just leave it be, someplace.  You can fondle it, it wont hurt.  Wont speed or slow the drying.  Just DO NOT GO FAST.  Oil is a slow finish.  Slow as it gets.  Lacquer is a fast finish - one of the fastest.  THAT is why things are lacquered: Its easy and fast production.
 
NSW! there goes the tasmania theory, bloody hell another victorian better join this forum soon or else im leavin.

rightintheface said:
i consider mysef to be losing my virginity in this field.


yeah lossing your v plates is great until you see the look on her face...  :icon_thumright:
 
hahahaha v-plates. only aussies can come up with something so genius. so JR, you're a melbourner then? and mt ousley for you willyk? i drive up every day for work, i work up at cataract dam, at the camp there. good times. i should drop by and see your guits sometime. i notice that your jazzmaster is korina.. i like. very nice.

but anyway, thanks for all the info guys, as i'm going in hard (no experience really), so any advice is welcome advice. any comment  on the oil-on-binding matter -CB-?
 
Oil on binding... jeeeze

It really shouldn't be a problem with real tung oil.  I can see problems with TruOil or any of the oils that have petroleum products in them.  That might soften the binding.  I know that lacquer can and will soften binding if first coats are applied too thick.

Go slow, thin thin coats.  That should be ok.  I say should be... because I've never actually done it.  But, binding is glued on... so as long as you dont soften or mess with the glue, I dont forsee problems.  Tung (pure) would be best there.  The 50/50 mix with turpentine has me thinking... maybe forget that and just go full strength on first coat, but leave it sit a bit for penetration before wiping IT ALL OFF.
 
I did a tung oil finnish on a neck after reading one of CB's posts, I took a long time to finnish it because I was not in any hurry, in fact that neck is waiting for a body now, It's been on a body and played in a gig, it's a good looking finnish,,,,BUT....it has a bit of a sticky feel to it, not much, but it doesn't have that dry laquer feel to it, I am sure there's something I can do to speed up the feel of it, and someday I will ask CB about it

The finnish of my tung oiled neck looks spectacular
 
Short of placing the the neck in an decompression chamber filled with pure O2......

You might try leaving the neck out in the air, or even in a place where it can get some warmth too, as warmth speeds chemical reactions.

Moreover, if it feels sticky... it might be the finish is just too thick.  You can take the neck off, and try some solvents on it - turpentine is a thinner for uncured (polymerized) tung oil.  Lacquer thinner...

If you can de-gum the neck with some solvent, give it a quick wipe down with synthetic steel wool, and let it sit a while, followed by one-and-only-one ultra thin wipe of tung again, for appearance sake only. 

If its sticky, that usually means "too much".
 
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