I must be doing something wrong here..
after 3 coats of grain filler, 3 coats of pure tung oil/thinner mixture and about 5-6 coats of Tung oil, the finish is still patchy and uneven..
it almost seems as if it is drying/building differently on certain colored parts of the rosewood grain - See pictures
so this is what I did:
3 coats of Tung-oil/Thinner Mixture:
wiped it on fairly thick, wiped off as much as possible after about 10 minutes.. came back later to wipe more..
during these coats, not much stuck to the body, especially the rosewood top..
drying 3-4 days between coats
5 or 6 coats of pure Oil:
initially wiped it on as thinly as possible, and wiped off as much as i could after 10 minutes.
again, not much seems to stuck to the top, while the korina back seems to absorb most of the oil straight away.. not much build-up on either side
drying 3-4 days between coats
on the 4th coat I decided (as per some advise on some random furniture finishing sites) to apply as thinly as possible and NOT wipe off at all..\
On the darker parts of the rosewood grain, some finish is building, while on other parts it almost seems to bleach the wood..
on the 5th and 6th coat, I wiped on thinly and wiped off lightly..
for the last 3 coats, I waited about 6-7 days (and I am running out of patience :tard
it still looks crap and I am not sure if I should:
- continue and hope it will build up more and more evenly
- sand off and start again
- sand off and finish with Tru-oil instead
so I am not sure if Tung oil is a good match with Rosewood.. it is quartersawn rosewood, so I am not sure if that makes a difference too
here are some pics. It is most visible in the non-flash pics:
after 3 coats of grain filler, 3 coats of pure tung oil/thinner mixture and about 5-6 coats of Tung oil, the finish is still patchy and uneven..
it almost seems as if it is drying/building differently on certain colored parts of the rosewood grain - See pictures
so this is what I did:
3 coats of Tung-oil/Thinner Mixture:
wiped it on fairly thick, wiped off as much as possible after about 10 minutes.. came back later to wipe more..
during these coats, not much stuck to the body, especially the rosewood top..
drying 3-4 days between coats
5 or 6 coats of pure Oil:
initially wiped it on as thinly as possible, and wiped off as much as i could after 10 minutes.
again, not much seems to stuck to the top, while the korina back seems to absorb most of the oil straight away.. not much build-up on either side
drying 3-4 days between coats
on the 4th coat I decided (as per some advise on some random furniture finishing sites) to apply as thinly as possible and NOT wipe off at all..\
On the darker parts of the rosewood grain, some finish is building, while on other parts it almost seems to bleach the wood..
on the 5th and 6th coat, I wiped on thinly and wiped off lightly..
for the last 3 coats, I waited about 6-7 days (and I am running out of patience :tard

it still looks crap and I am not sure if I should:
- continue and hope it will build up more and more evenly
- sand off and start again
- sand off and finish with Tru-oil instead
so I am not sure if Tung oil is a good match with Rosewood.. it is quartersawn rosewood, so I am not sure if that makes a difference too
here are some pics. It is most visible in the non-flash pics:






