Getting grain texture to show through a solid finish

[Ace Flibble]

Straight to the point, I've been madly in love with this finish for a couple of years now

Gibson call it Worn TV Yellow; Edwards also do the same finish. The finish is rough, following the grain of the wood.

How would I go about doing such a finish? Just go like normal but skip the grain filler? I'm thinking of dropping it on mahogany and swamp ash, thinking of alder too for a more subtle version.

 

[bagman67]

Reranch supplies a discussion here:  http://www.reranch.com/tv_yellow.htm

 

[jackthehack]

If you want a finish like the one in the picture, just simply skip any grain filling steps in the process. Note that on mahogany, if you DON'T fill the grain, coats will take longer to dry/cure than if the grain was filled. If you don't allow extra drying/curing time, the lacquer that seeps into the grain pores may not be completely dry and you wind up with a mess when you try to sand....

 

[Ace Flibble]

Huh. Is that a problem with many woods or is that just a mahogany thing? I've only finished plain maple before so the nature of grain is somewhat alien to me.

 

[dmraco]

Huh. Is that a problem with many woods or is that just a mahogany thing? I've only finished plain maple before so the nature of grain is somewhat alien to me.

maple grain is VERY shallow.  Does not need filling.  It will be very smooth with little effort.  Woods like mahogany, korina, and ash have deeper grains that need filled in order for a finish to be smooth.  To achieve the look you are after, simply use a grainy wood and do not fill.  Simply paint and clear.

I would recommend using polishing pads on finish like that.  Also try to avoid hi gloss clear.  Satin tends to work the best.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Yeah that's what I figured. So swamp ash and mahogany, no grain filler and a satin top coat should work out best then.

 

[AprioriMark]

How would this finish look on Swamp Ash?  Is the grain deep enough to make it interesting, do you think?

-Mark

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Lacquer has difficulties drying when it is applied too thick.  Normally this is not such a problem, but if it were to pool in the grain, you could get it thick enough that it was a slow drying affair.  I do not think it would be much of a problem, except you would have to be careful to apply thin coats, and not get, "Greedy," and put a nice thick layer in there to finish up quicker.
Patrick

 

[Ace Flibble]

I'm not sure about the worn-in yellow on swamp ash, I certainly want to try it but yeah I dunno how well it will really work. I guess it depends on the piece of ash, some have a lot of variance in the grain and other pieces look very plain. I'll be doing mahogany first since that's the one I'm most used to seeing so I think I can judge it better, then I'll give alder a go and then ash. Just hope I get a really well-figured piece of ash.


Mayones do crazy things with ash grain:

But they go out of their way to pick pieces that will show off the paint effect well and that is a much more 3D effect too. I'm just talking about getting a bit of the grain texture to show through a solid colour, obviously they go a little further beyond that. They do it with red/black grain, black/red grain, white/black grain, black/white grain, black/silver grain, black/gold grain and all-black but with the grain still very visible from the texture alone. I've seen the black/gold one in person and it's amazing, no idea how they manage it.



edit: yeah I figure very, very light coats will be the best way to go. Which is fine, I'm in no rush and I like the worn-in look, I've never been a thick high-gloss fan.

 

[bagman67]

Mayones do crazy things with ash grain:

But they go out of their way to pick pieces that will show off the paint effect well and that is a much more 3D effect too. I'm just talking about getting a bit of the grain texture to show through a solid colour, obviously they go a little further beyond that. They do it with red/black grain, black/red grain, white/black grain, black/white grain, black/silver grain, black/gold grain and all-black but with the grain still very visible from the texture alone. I've seen the black/gold one in person and it's amazing, no idea how they manage it.

Looks as if they might have sandblasted the open grain away, painted it, sealed it, sanded back, applied the contrasting color, sanded back again, and clearcoated..

 

[jackthehack]

You could do that same finish on the available Unique Choice for a VIP/other carved top, would look pretty cool...

Black dye => sand back everything but grain => dye red => shoot with satin lacquer

 

[Ace Flibble]

Black dye => sand back everything but grain => dye red => shoot with satin lacquer

I thought that was the process for doing aged tiger finishes on flame maple (ala the Gibson Joe Perry model)? It's more of a flat finish, like Warmoth's tiger's eye.

 

[dmraco]

Black dye => sand back everything but grain => dye red => shoot with satin lacquer

I thought that was the process for doing aged tiger finishes on flame maple (ala the Gibson Joe Perry model)? It's more of a flat finish, like Warmoth's tiger's eye.

it is...but will have a similar effect on the ash.  The idea of the black all over is it gets the stain into the deep grain.  You then sand everyting off but that deep grain.  The the red tints everyting else.  Its actually easier on a deeper grained wood like ash.  The issie most have with ash is FILLING the grain to make a smooth surface.  You can skip that part.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Might try that then on the ash body, leave the yellow for the mahogany and alder and give ash something really special. It does always seem a shame to cover strong ash grain up with a solid colour, textured or otherwise.

 

[Syntheticocean]

Straight to the point, I've been madly in love with this finish for a couple of years now

Gibson call it Worn TV Yellow; Edwards also do the same finish. The finish is rough, following the grain of the wood.

How would I go about doing such a finish? Just go like normal but skip the grain filler? I'm thinking of dropping it on mahogany and swamp ash, thinking of alder too for a more subtle version.

That's the finish I have on the back of my body. Its mahogany. I grainfilled 1 light, watery coat. Sanded with 320 and then sealed. I love love love the finish.

 

[m4rk0]

I tried this with Ash once..

no filler, just some pre-stain conditioner.
after 20 coats of woodburst stain:

and some true oil over that: