marco.drago
Newbie
- Messages
- 4
So, i'm an italian newby. my name is Marco.
In a few days i will have stuff from warmoth (alder body with purpleheart-ebony neck), and i'm making experiments on pieces of wood to see what' the best finiture option available for someone living in a house without a garage or hobby room. The task is also to work with non aggressive chemicals in the air around, I have two little twins.
For the reasonsexplained I can't spray anything, so i've tried many options (Always french finish, also if i would use the term italian finish, by the fact that my country is the place where is mostly used, both for ancient furniture and for violins). I tried many colours and i think will try for a " glitter pop" body, sunburst (perhaps sunburst is not the right term, would be better "fantasy rainbow") from yellow to orange-red to purple ending black (I choosed this fantasy colors because the purpleheart would match with purple, but i have only "serious colours guitars", so i want something funny.
I tried tung oil, worked fine on cheap wood (IKEA pine with knots), will perhaps work better with better wood. I've tried shellac and worked better.
While i was experimenting, i thought that here in Italy many luthiers from cremona (when they use shellac) first use to apply a thin coat of vegetable oil called "olio paglierino" (i don't know the translation in english and i don't find it on internet) before the first hand of shellac.
I had many problems with shellac and purple, 'cause i couldn't find a way to make purple with water or fat based aniline.
So I thought: "the oil I use for shellac is fat and is vegetable. Also tung oil is fat and vegetable. I started studying more.
I discovered that many people use shellac to seal ancient wood treated many times with various products before to finish them again (first they sand to virgin wood), because it isolates all the residues of oils or precedent finish.
I made the math and i tried to experiment have an alcohol based aniline to make purple, then applying four coats of pure tung oil diluted with d-limonene (turpentine in english?), then i applyed shellac on an isolated surface (I couldn't do purple with shellac, because of alcohol based aniline).
The result is that I have a finish on pine wood made with alcohol aniline, tung oil and at the end shellac. For the moment is stable and has a very nice glossy look.
When the guitar arrives i will try to make the work.
The advantages would be:
- two protections (tung and shellac), not strong but better than a single one.
- It seems harder at the touch than just only tung or shellac.
- i can make a purple body to match the neck
- I can fix easily scrapes with other shellac
Disadvantages:
- I don't know what will happen in months.
- This is anyway a weak finishing, subject to scrapes.
- I don't know if I will manage the transition between the sunburst colors, but in these days i will try.
My questions to someone more expert than me is:
- Someone tried it before and knows if this combination can work?
- I have a purpleheart box in my house, bought in costarica. After some years the wood tended to get brownish. If I put one or two light coats of tung oil on the neck, will I prevent the "brownishing effect"?.
- Will I protect the neck a little better from getting dirty and will it be a good feeling at the touch? I've tried rough wood, and it is fantastic, i don't like varnish feeling on necks, but just one or two light coats of tung oil will change very much the feeling?
Every suggestion is welcome.
In a few days i will have stuff from warmoth (alder body with purpleheart-ebony neck), and i'm making experiments on pieces of wood to see what' the best finiture option available for someone living in a house without a garage or hobby room. The task is also to work with non aggressive chemicals in the air around, I have two little twins.
For the reasonsexplained I can't spray anything, so i've tried many options (Always french finish, also if i would use the term italian finish, by the fact that my country is the place where is mostly used, both for ancient furniture and for violins). I tried many colours and i think will try for a " glitter pop" body, sunburst (perhaps sunburst is not the right term, would be better "fantasy rainbow") from yellow to orange-red to purple ending black (I choosed this fantasy colors because the purpleheart would match with purple, but i have only "serious colours guitars", so i want something funny.
I tried tung oil, worked fine on cheap wood (IKEA pine with knots), will perhaps work better with better wood. I've tried shellac and worked better.
While i was experimenting, i thought that here in Italy many luthiers from cremona (when they use shellac) first use to apply a thin coat of vegetable oil called "olio paglierino" (i don't know the translation in english and i don't find it on internet) before the first hand of shellac.
I had many problems with shellac and purple, 'cause i couldn't find a way to make purple with water or fat based aniline.
So I thought: "the oil I use for shellac is fat and is vegetable. Also tung oil is fat and vegetable. I started studying more.
I discovered that many people use shellac to seal ancient wood treated many times with various products before to finish them again (first they sand to virgin wood), because it isolates all the residues of oils or precedent finish.
I made the math and i tried to experiment have an alcohol based aniline to make purple, then applying four coats of pure tung oil diluted with d-limonene (turpentine in english?), then i applyed shellac on an isolated surface (I couldn't do purple with shellac, because of alcohol based aniline).
The result is that I have a finish on pine wood made with alcohol aniline, tung oil and at the end shellac. For the moment is stable and has a very nice glossy look.
When the guitar arrives i will try to make the work.
The advantages would be:
- two protections (tung and shellac), not strong but better than a single one.
- It seems harder at the touch than just only tung or shellac.
- i can make a purple body to match the neck
- I can fix easily scrapes with other shellac
Disadvantages:
- I don't know what will happen in months.
- This is anyway a weak finishing, subject to scrapes.
- I don't know if I will manage the transition between the sunburst colors, but in these days i will try.
My questions to someone more expert than me is:
- Someone tried it before and knows if this combination can work?
- I have a purpleheart box in my house, bought in costarica. After some years the wood tended to get brownish. If I put one or two light coats of tung oil on the neck, will I prevent the "brownishing effect"?.
- Will I protect the neck a little better from getting dirty and will it be a good feeling at the touch? I've tried rough wood, and it is fantastic, i don't like varnish feeling on necks, but just one or two light coats of tung oil will change very much the feeling?
Every suggestion is welcome.
