Tru-oil curing time

[kdownes]

I just started Tru-oiling my black korina VIP yesterday, and I wanted to get a sense from folks who've used Tru-oil what their curing times have been like.  I've recently had some misadventures with a jazz bass finished in Tru-oil (which I've posted about here: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=11577.msg158049 and here: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=11578.msg157994 (this body is now curing inside my apartment where the temperature is more steady, and I'm not going to touch it for another month or so) and I don't want to screw up my VIP.  I did some finish testing with little blocks of korina a few months back, and if I take one of the first of those I did, probably around mid-December, I can polish and wax it and it comes out *really* smooth and looking great.  If I try polishing and waxing another piece that was finished more like late January/early February, the wax just eats the finish right off and it's a big mess.

My plan for the VIP is to let a couple of days pass between coats of Tru-oil instead of doing a coat a day as I did with the jazz bass, then let it hang out for a couple of months.  But I'm curious how long folks generally leave their Tru-oiled instruments before level sanding, polishing, and waxing.  Of course temperature and humidity are key, and now that it's warming up a bit in New England things will hopefully happen a bit more quickly, but if anyone can share their rules of thumb for Tru-oil curing, that would be great.  As much as I can't wait to play both, I'm prepared to leave these bodies for as long as necessary to them to cure.

 

[Steve_Karl]

Sorry you're having trouble.

I'm about to begin putting tru-oil on my black korina strat body and this story really makes me want to bail on the tru-oil and just use Belins Master-Gel,
which I already know needs almost no curing time, cleans up ( long term cleaning ) with water and looks and feels like satin.

I've been avoiding the tru-oil finishing of this body because tru-oil is starting seem to be too needy and more trouble than it's worth.

I once re finished an old P-bass with a 2" paint brush and a can of stuff that you'd put on a gymnasium floor and it came out fine.
It was really tough and always felt great to the touch.
I'm really starting to doubt the need ( for me at least ) to be so picky about this finishing project that's starting to become a nightmare even before it's started.


I hope you figure out what to do ... and I hope I do also.  

 

[jackthehack]

I've used Tru-oil to do a couple of project during the dreary winter here. Assuming you're applying EXTREMELY think coats, in a warm basement you can put on a new coat twice a day, about every 12 hours.

That's how this L5S was done, did 40+ coats in that manner:

 

[Malta]

I've used Tru-oil to do a couple of project during the dreary winter here. Assuming you're applying EXTREMELY think coats, in a warm basement you can put on a new coat twice a day, about every 12 hours.

That's how this L5S was done, did 40+ coats in that manner:

You meant thin coats, right? 

 

[TonyW]

I put on a coat every 24 to 48 hours then after the final i waited nearly 2 weeks before i gave it a clean up
and had no problems. This was during the Aussie summer.

 

[chrisg]

I've done a neck and am halfway through a body.  Used the same process as TonyW: a coat every 2 or 3 days (a really thin coat - small patches [3 inch X 3 inch] rubbed on with a cotton rag, wiped off immediately), then left for 2 weeks and buffed). The neck has worked out really well, and the body is coming along great.  I also lightly buff between coats with 0000 steel wool.

 

[kdownes]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.  I've been applying with cheesecloth and making the coats as thin as I can, and I'll start buffing between coats -- not sure if that will make the difference but it's worth a try.  The every 2 or 3 days approach seems like the best way to go.  I'm not sure why it's taking my pieces so much longer to cure than it seems to for the rest of you, but I'm going to just leave everything for at least a month after the final coat.  With the warmer weather hopefully that will get everything to set nicely so the wax doesn't ruin it.