too much stain?

[bpmorton777]

Ive stained the body twice, both times just letting the stain dry on the wood without whiping it off. Im not sure if that was a bad thing or not. I  have gone over the whole thing with 0000 steel wool and it now looks like a satin finish. Is there still too much stain on the thing? Will this mess with the tung oil that I plan to use or prevent it from penitraiting or curing?

any help would be apreciated

Brian

 

[jackthehack]

Nope, when using colors of that ilk, you get deeper/darker with additional stain applications, although personally I'll always do more thin coats of any finishing product from top to bottom than thick ones.

Shouldn't make any difference on oil top finish, just make sure it's COMPLETELY dry before you start applying oil finish. Most stains take a lot longer to dry than most people think and although they may appear dry to touch, they aren't really. After applying thick coats of stain like that you should wait about 5-7 days AFTER you think it's dry to be safe.

 

[guitlouie]

Hey, man, I'm no finishing expert, but it looks like you got a good answer on the subject already.  I just wanted to say that I think it looks really great.  I've really enjoyed watching your progress on this one.  You are a braver man than me for starting from a blank on this one, but it is really coming along.  I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end.

 

[jackthehack]

Wow, didn't realize this was the body you started from the blank; great job!  ccasion14:

 

[bpmorton777]

thanks for the kind words, guys!

Ive let each coat of stain dry for a week. Ive also moved it into the house from the garage so it'll get some air. The plan is 1 thin coat of tung oil a week for about three months ...if I can stand it that long. :icon_biggrin:

Brian

 

[jackthehack]

Don't know where you live, but this time of year it may not take a whole week for a thin coat of tung oil to dry out completely.

 

[Dietrich]

Well, I like it.  Hope to see more pics as it comes together.  What hardware are you going to use?

 

[bpmorton777]

PW tuners, narrow spaced flatmount start bridge...I know, not traditional for a PRS body type but I really like the simplicity of those bridges and it doesnt look much different from the models with trems. Three SD Stag-Mags for pickups. 3-way LP switch, three push/pull pots: one to turn on the mid, one to split the outer pickups and one to split the middle.

Brian

 

[bpmorton777]

Jack, I live in the SF bay area near San Jose ...no humidity to worry about, 80's durring the day 60's at night. How long should I wait betweeen coats?

Brian

 

[jackthehack]

It's a bit tricky to predict as "thin coats" is kinda of relative. You can't leave it hanging outside at night because it DOES get damp at night; but if you have somewhere to hang it it out to catch some sun/breeze during the day, maybe like a couple of days after it FEELS completely dry, if that makes sense.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I used alcohol based dyes on my test piece and it really does take a while to dry.  Surprisingly long.  But to add to what Jack said, two days in the sun and being brought in at night really did it with the alcohol.  Being impatient I learned it sands really different if it is not dry.  If you are in San Jose, I am two hours up the road and so the weather should be close to the same.  But I also learned that the looks of the stuff changes a lot when you put on the finish coats.  Here are some picts of another trial

As usual the picts don't look quite right, but it does give an idea of how much change there was.  If you are in the area, Id say the weather will probably cooperate a bit more than one week per coat.

One more quick thought.  If you are tung oil'ing the body and cut the first one or two coats with citrus solvent to get it to penetrate the wood, I'd let those coats really dry well before moving on.  I would guess it would take longer to dry the deeper it goes into the wood of the body.
Patrick

 

[bpmorton777]

I had been thinking about doing what had been suggested here on the board and cutting the tung oil with turpentine and slathering it on real wet...but didnt feel like doing that and used about a half a teaspoon of the tung oil in a piece of old cut up shirt and rubbed it all over the body barely wetting it.

Should I be slathering it on for the second coat?

Brian

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I thought that the only time you wanted to be excessive was when you were cutting it with solvent so that as much as you could get would penetrate the wood.  But you still wipe off the surface once it has absorbed.  From what I have picked up, primarily from CB, is that the oil reacts with the O2 in the air and forms a polymer.  The thicker the oil, the slower the polymerization, the greater chance it would get gummy.  So I thought you cut it with solvent to get it into the wood, but always wiped it down to keep the layer on the surface as thin as possible.  Then do multi coats to layer it up.  I could be wrong, and I am sure that the much more knowledgeable folks around here will chime in if that is not the case. 
Patrick

 

[bpmorton777]

I had done a test peice a few months back cut from the same hunk of mahogany. I left the thing on the kitchen table and when it got direct sunlight it would sweat out little drops of tung oil and make a mess of the finnish.

Brian

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Hmm, I dunno.  I think Jack used Tung oil with out doing the process to cut it, and it worked out fine.  Maybe just use thin coats with Mahogany.  Sounds easier...
Patrick

 

[Shmoopie]

to much is not enough.