Rosewood top not taking Tung Oil?

[snowforts]

There's a spot above the bridge pickup on my rosewood top that doesn't seem to want to absorb much Tung Oil.  I'm on day/coat 6 and the rest of the guitar looks freakin' fantastic and smooth.  Here's a shot of my problem (used a flash to really show):

I've tried dousing the crap out of the area and letting it soak for a while, but it just doesn't want to take.

Any advice you guys can give would be great.

Thanks!
--Matthew

 

[snowforts]

have you "wet sanded"  i see people doing that on videos on youtube, its looks good dud.

Yep, I've wet-sanded the whole thing three times with 400 grit to fill in the huge open grain a little bit, but that one little area just doesn't want to take.

 

[snowforts]

must be end grain that's all i can think of, end grain will sock up anything you put on it unless you seal it first .

Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it is (end grain).  So will it eventually start to build up, or should I just leave it?

 

[stratamania]

You could try getting some shellac on that area which should seal it, then get back to the tung oil.

Lovely looking top by the way.

 

[Cagey]

Being Rosewood, I'm surprised it's taking any finish at all. It's an intrinsically oily/waxy wood, so normally it's not finished. But, when it is, I think you have to go through some fairly heroic degreasing with acetone or MEK before anything will stick to it. Then, you have to do like Stratamania says and coat it with shellac to seal the wood and finish away from each other.

 

[snowforts]

Being Rosewood, I'm surprised it's taking any finish at all. It's an intrinsically oily/waxy wood, so normally it's not finished. But, when it is, I think you have to go through some fairly heroic degreasing with acetone or MEK before anything will stick to it. Then, you have to do like Stratamania says and coat it with shellac to seal the wood and finish away from each other.

I did thin the oil out 50/50 on the first two coats with mineral spirits, so maybe that disolved(?) some of the natural oil in the rosewood.  I'm just pulling theories out of my butt as I have no experience with this at all, just what YouTubers have advised. Other than that one spot, it's taking the tung oil great.

 

[Cagey]

I don't think the viscosity of the finish material matters as far as sticking to the Rosewood. If the surface is too oily to apply a finish to, then it's going to be like trying to paint wax paper. The finish is just not going to adhere at all. That's the reason you need the aggressive degreasing of the surface before you start applying finish, and if you want the finish to stay stuck on, then there needs to be an isolation barrier between the wood and the finish. That's what the shellac is for.

The folks who do fine furniture restoration have to deal with this all the time, and they're the ones who do it successfully. Sites like this one can be helpful, but there are others.