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Oiled Mahogany vs Birdseye Maple

Tonar8352

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Both Hanna and riverbluff want hand rubbed oil finish on the back of their Lester's necks. Hanna's is Mahogany and Bill's is Birdseye so this is a good comparison on how they will look and how I will treat the Mahogany differently because of the open grain.

Here is the Mahogany raw with the headstock only lacquered, you can see the gloss finish on the headstock clearly. The urine sample is not a urine sample but an even part blend of boiled linseed oil and paint thinner.
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Here it is with the oil freshly applied.
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I do Mahogany differently by starting with 600 wet/dry and sand the wood when the oil is still wet and that will begin to fill the grain when the saw dust mixes with the oil. Here it is after it has been sanded.
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Here are the two necks side by side. The maple has been sanded with 2000 grit and has a couple coats of oil on, then polish on the arbor and it already looks like glass. It will be interesting to see how much shine and how smooth I can get the Mahogany.
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They both look great. I'd be tempted to use them as is.

You say the urine sample is equal parts BLO and paint thinner. What are you calling "paint thinner"?
 
"I do Mahogany differently by starting with 600 wet/dry and sand the wood when the oil is still wet and that will begin to fill the grain when the saw dust mixes with the oil. Here it is after it has been sanded."


I did the same thing with a mahogany neck, 2 mahogany bodies, black korina body and a walnut body with "Danish oil". The walnut didn't really need it, but i did it anyway. The mahogany and the black korina fill in nicely with that method. :headbang:
 
I have maple necks that are over 10 years old that are still fine. I have not done a mahogany neck like this but I would say unless someone is a heavy sweater it should not be any different. The oils in your hand plus the abrasiveness of your skin keep it polished pretty good. If it does get hairy from sweat I would just polish it up again with 2000. The bottom line is it will feel like a 50 year old well worn vintage guitar neck, can't be beat in my opinion. 
 
Luckily I'm not a heavy sweater.  I do own some heavy sweaters, but I only wear them around Christmas.  :icon_jokercolor:

I do tend to wash my hands before I play, and I don't sweat too much unless it's warm in the room or something.  I'm anticipating a long life for this oil finish. 
 
I am considering doing this to a maple neck I just purchased.

questions:

How many coat and how long did you let it dry between coats?

Any particular brand of linseed oil?  Do you actually boil it or doe it come that way?

I assume it is not an issue to get it on the side of the fret board (pau ferrau).

Amazing.
 
There's raw linseed oil, and "boiled". It's not really "boiled", it's just been chemically messed with, but in a good way. You want the "boiled". The raw stuff will never dry.

It's ok to get it on the Pau Ferro.

I'm not going to say how to put it on. I've had less than rewarding experience with the stuff, so I probably do it wrong.
 
If I were you I'd say that WAS a urine sample. That way you could make it look like you're a master at muti-taksing!
 
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