Applying logo to bare rosewood headstock

[tfcreative]

So I'm working on this build:

http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=24118.0

While waiting for the body I'm experimenting with putting a logo on the headstock. The neck is all rosewood and I plan to keep it unfinished. I'm starting to experiment with some cut vinyl stencils that I made, but I'm concerned about a couple of things:

1 - Will spray paint onto raw wood ever cure hard, or will it always be prone to abrasion without some kind of clear?

2 - If it needs clear, I've heard that only finishing the front side (like with a satin clear on the front of the headstock only) can be troublesome since only part of the neck is sealed against moisture. Is there anything to this?

3 - Am I missing a far better method for doing this?

 

[tfcreative]

First attempt last night, using a scrap block of rosewood. Some pics below to show what I did.

Results are halfway decent, though I may need to experiment with how long to leave the stencil on after spraying. This was left about an hour. Paint wasn't cured yet, but stencil was still a little hard to get off and I had to get in there with an xacto knife.

As I feared would likely happen, some of the pain seeps into the deeper grain in the rosewood. One possible way I might try to combat this is with a very light coat of dark paint before the cream to seal up the grain first. However, I'm worried about it building up too thick and/or its durability afterward.

Any thoughts on my next move?

 

[bagman67]

Well, I'm  not THE finishing guy, but I've read a lot here and elsewhere.


For starters, vinyl tends to look like crap, but if you're just using it as a stencil for an applicatoin of paint, that's another story.  Your post wasn't clear, but I'll assume you're just going to apply the vinyl, spray, and then remove.  So far so good.


A couple things to consider:


1.  Rosewood is a pain to finish.  Not as bad as cocobolo, which is, like, oily enough to fry stuff on, but oily enough in any case.  So you'll want to irrigate the part you intend to paint very thorougly with naphtha to dry it out as best you can before doing whatever you do next.


2.  Finishing only the face of the headstock, or even the entire peghead, is totally okay.  Music Man do it all the time on their rosewood necks.


3.  I would recommend using a wax-free shellac barrier between the rosewood and whatever stencil you apply.  Shellac is the near-universal interface coating - it sticks to just about anything.


So your schedule is:


1.  Sand your surface as you would for any finishing prep.  220 is fine.


2.  Wipe thoroughly with naphtha.  Don't spare the chemicals - you don't want your finish to fail due to natural rosewood oiliness.


3.  Mask it off.


4.  Apply shellac wash coat. Sand and repeat.  Maybe one more time.  Should cure pretty quick, but I'd wait a day to go further.


5.  Apply your masking/stencil doodad.


6.  Apply your paint.


7.  Remove the mask per your usual experience.


8.  Allow your painted logo to cure per the paint manufacturer's recommendation.


9.  Apply clear topcoats to taste.


Have fun!

 

[bagman67]

It occurs to me if you're going to put a clear topcoat over your logo, and you're concerned about paint sinking into the pores of the rosewood, you will want to use a grain filler.


There are clear, water-based grain fillers such as crystalac, or you could use cyanoacrylate (crazy) glue, or an epoxy product such as zpoxy.  If you're going to use the water-based filler, do it AFTER you put down a shellac layer so it won't raise the grain.

 

[Cagey]

Sounds like an excellent schedule to me. I would definitely be grain-filling the wood before stencilling anything on, though. Rosewood's grain is usually deep so even with a barrier coat you're liable to get some wicking in the grain that will make the edges look fuzzy.

 

[tfcreative]

Yeah, just using the vinyl as a stencil. I already figured it would look stupid just stuck on there.

The finishing schedule makes sense. I'll test on my scrap and see how it goes. A couple of follow-up questions:

1 - Any insight on how long to leave the stencil on after I spray the logo? Will it tend to smear/run if I take it off too soon? I don't want to leave it on too long since the paint will tend to seal over it and I'll have to cut it out.

2 - Any recommendations on an aerosol clear? Is there a good make of a satin nitro or poly?

 

[stratamania]

Another idea put a coat or so of clear on prior to the stencil. If it messes up you can easily sand it back without touching the wood again unless you sand through. It will also seal the wood prior to the stencil job with the paint.

I would look at Behlens Nitro in a tin, they sell it as stringed instrument lacquer.

 

[tfcreative]

So work has been busy but I've been slowly getting at this. The test scrap came out well and I got started on the actual headstock. Grain is filled and I did the color on the logo today. Clear starts tomorrow and will go for a while until I build up enough coats to not feel the thickness of the spray logo. On the test piece that was just shy of 20 coats.

 

[swarfrat]

In anyvwood thatboily, I'd be thinking branding or engraving rather than paint