Need help finishing a Walnut/Ash Strat!

[rwierz]

I'm soon to be receiving a Swamp Ash body Strat with a Walnut top and I want to get my finishes ready so I can start right away once it gets here.

On the Walnut I'm planning on using Dark Walnut Danish Oil and Beeswax (tested this on scrap, and I really like the look)

The Ash is posing the problem right now. I've read that Oil finishes on Ash eventually turn to an ugly yellow colour so I'm hesitant to use a shade of Danish Oil on the Ash.

Essentially I want the Ash to look like the guitar in the attached picture. I really like the natural look with the dark grain.
Does anybody have any experience with getting an Ash finish like this? Do you think a grain fill was used?

Thanks!!

 

[greywolf]

I like Zinssers Shellac as a base coat on Ash then shoot  a few coats of Nitro

I've used this on Swamp ash, Alder . Walnut and Koa .. all look good.

 

[rwierz]

After some more research here are my steps.

1)Sand

2) Clear Zinsser Shellac

3) Timbermate Walnut Grain Fill

4) Sand

5) More Shellac

6)A light colour stain if I'm not liking the colour (What type of stain would be good??, Oil based apparently turns yellow over time, so would water based be a better option??)

7) Finish with beeswax.

Anything missing?!?! I'm not looking for a glossy finish, and I want it to feel as natural as possible.

 

[stubhead]

That type of finish is colloquially known as a "barn door" finish, at least around here. I suspect if you do some searching here and in Netland a bunch of info will come up, probably too much and all contradictory.* For sure, you're looking at some black or dark grain filler first, which is then sanded back off the higher parts. Depending on the wood, the grain filler, the desired effect, the phase of the moon and whether Aries is ascending in Pluto or Uranus... well never mind that part. At least in some versions, you'd want to seal the giant pores in the ash with shellac first just to keep from having to use a whole, whole lot of grainfiller, which you'd then have to sand back a whole, whole lot. There are some barn door experts here, root around a bit and see what turns up.


*(that's the way we like it, uh-huh, uh-huh, that's...)


OK: you were typing while I was typing, I see you got to the part about sealing the pores before grain filling. I'm not sure if "natural" still means perfectly smooth? Perfectly smooth + swamp ash + barndoor = lotsa work... The best bet would be to find as many of the finishes in that family you can, root out what process threads there are about them specifically, refine with questions, then punt it up the middle. Real experts will tell you to test everything on the exact-right scraps, but plain ol' grainy pine is close enough to swamp ash to get you pretty close.

 

[rwierz]

Thanks for the info StubHead, - The barn door search has turned up a lot of great results. I actually found the post by the guy who finished the bass that I'm trying to emulate.

My steps now look like:

Wet wood to raise grain, dry, sand
Shellac
Grain Fill
Sand
Poly Satin Finish with perhaps some stain mixed in if I'm not liking the colour at that point.

I definitely don't care much if it's perfectly smooth, all I want is that nice barn door look!

 

[Cagey]

Beeswax makes for a very attractive finish, but it's really only good on things that are to be seen and not touched. Picture frames, knick-knacks, wall hangings, things of that nature are all fine, but the wax will not take any handling or abuse so it's the last thing I'd ever put on an instrument.