Swamp ash and colored danish oil troubles..

[nickname009]

Hi to all!
Just got my first warmoth build going on, the body just came in today! I read a lot on these forums and others collectively gaining more and more information but alas, I'm still mucking up the finish a tad.

I've got a 7/8th tele swamp ash body that I want to stain to get either padauk-esque or better yet, cocobolo-esque colors, with the grain lines all black and the rest a really heavy dark/reddish brown.

And I've wanted to keep it not too glossy and have a sort of natural feel so I went with watco danish oil in red mahogany.
I thought it would get in the ballpark of what I was thinking but as you can see in the pictures, it's not. Not only that, it's a bit spotty and blotchy in some areas. So I redid the back and applied more but this time wet sanding with 320 grit and it came out better but the color isn't there, nor is the grain popping out like cocobolo does.

Assuming that I'm to start all over again, what is the best overall method to get this looking like cocobolo/padauk via cheap, and hand rubbed and natural wood type of finishing?

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[stubhead]

You need to get some really dark wood filler down into all the grain. It looks like you've still got a lot of graininess, right? I mean, when you rub your finger over it, it still feels woody? Now, you want to STOP SANDING it, because you need the contrasting heights for now. I think you need to wash it with a solvent (outdoors, hopefully?) and scrub the Danish oil off. It doesn't need to be a good solvent, the cheapest is "mineral spirits." And a bunch of old towels, rags etc.*

*(NEVER EVER STORE THE USED RAGS IN A CLOSED CONTAINER - BLOOEY!!!)

I would try a brand new, extra nubbly bath washcloth or towel. Yes, go buy some, do not take the ones in the closet! :laughing3: You just want to keep scrubbing on it until the rags start coming up clean. It may take an hour? Maybe two, there's some drying and wetting stuff here. If the grain is too filled up by the oil finish, we have to move onto some more violent finish strippers, but give this a shot.

*(NEVER EVER STORE THE USED RAGS IN A CLOSED CONTAINER - BLOOEY!!!)

The next part will be packing some really dark wood filler into the grain, sanding that back with... I'm gonna say 320-grit wet/dry sandpaper, wrapped in a single layer over a pine 2X4" block. Just something hard enough to stay completely flat. This may take a few, or even three times round with the wood filler. And once the grain is right, you'll want to hit it overall with some reddish-brown dye. An awful lot of "what to do?" depends on how it's acting and looking like, so we can't really get too far until each stage is done & the wood is happy. You can't start with the filler until the wood is cleaned out enough, and you decide you either do need evil finish stripper, or not.

*(NEVER EVER STORE THE USED RAGS IN A CLOSED CONTAINER - BLOOEY!!!)

ALL this stuff's flammable, of course. REALLY flammable.


ADDENDUM: You may already have a good cleaning solvent there. The fuel for camping stoves and lanterns is just de-natured alcohol, and if you have naptha there it'll work. They're both somewhat more expensive, but not too much. You can't be shy here, it's gonna take 4,6,8 ounces? Try to do it outside if you can figure out a semi-warm place - garage? NO SPARKS, of course. And maybe not in your best tuxedo either. I'm pretty sure that if you took it to a pro, they would use a nasty paint stripper as a matter of course, but they're all set up for that. If you're like most of us, you have a little more time than money, and starting with the most conservative approach is the normal modus operandi.