low tech glossy finish

any ideas of a hard glossy finish for a solid body electric ukulele that wont cost me a bajillion dollars to apply and make work? i dont want to paint over the wood i just want to give a glossy finish to it that is hard and thick and preferably wont need to be reapplied (shorter time to finished being finished would also be nice but not absolutely necessary).

Hi Dave, just a question for you: have you read old threads in this forum? There are loads of threads about finishing.

yes i read the above link and a few others but its very jumbled and most of them aren't specific and have random replies for various different ways of finishing in just about every outcome you would possibly think of since the starter of the thread didn't seem to know what they wanted and just wrote a general question.

dave the slave said:

... the starter of the thread didn't seem to know what they wanted and just wrote a general question.

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And doesn't this apply to your threads? Sorry, don't wanna be mean or less aloha-spirited than the next guy but my advice to you is to get building as soon as you can. Start with easy woods and an easy finish (tru-oil comes to mind) and work on your skills before moving to harder woods and finishes that might be more difficult to apply.

Good luck, looking forward to some progress pics.

Sven

tru-oil will work, safe for you

will tru oil give me a hard thick finish?

Check this out:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=tru+oil

I used Tru-oil for this uke:


Tru-oil is really nice way to finish bare wood. To get a thicker finish, you can apply multiple coats. It won’t be as glossy as a nitrocellulose finish, but it’s way easier and faster. Once you feel comfortable, then try some nitrocellulose lacquer. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishi...olvents/ColorTone_Aerosol_Guitar_Lacquer.html

Am most familiar with using tru oil for gunstocks, but check these pics out to see how varied the finished product can look:

https://www.google.com/search?q=tru...GbygGsrIHoAw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAw&biw=1280&bih=559

dave the slave said:

will tru oil give me a hard thick finish?

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Most who have some experience with Tru-Oil don't try to use it that way. Why not spring for a bottle of the stuff and do a test panel to see if it meets your needs?

Guys. He's asked about a HARD Glossy finish. Tru Oil doesn't even begin to come into that category. Low tech, I assume means little in the way of tooling. Simple brushed on finish. Maybe one of the modern urethane/phenolic Oil varnishes or a varnish designed for flooring. Something like that.

How about Shellac ? Nice alchohol smell when it is drying .

I don't know how Tru-Oil got such a bad rap here. Its a slow process, but the coats build quickly, it dries hard, and can have the same gloss as nitro. Birchwood-Casey Stock Sheen used to be one of the best fine polished available, but when shiny gunstocks went out of fashion they added a grit to it. I called the company to see if any of the old stuff was still available, to no avail. This is going back at least 25 years. It was part of the Tru-Oil system. When sprayed, Tru-Oil lays out like a dream. The bit about rubbing it on and then rubbing it off is better done with other finishes. Tru-Oil should be laid on in as thick a coat as possible without runs or sags, just like any nitro or varnish finish. If it didn't dry into a nice, hard shell it would never have worked on gunstocks. There must be something in the English air that messes it up.

You're right John. I know a guy here who sprays on Tru-Oil and he buffs it out to a high gloss. He used many, many coats though and I have no idea how durable it is with playing or how it holds up over the years. You have some insight?

I've done a lot of research in this topic, so allow me to drop some 'nawlidge:

For a hard clear coat I don't suggest Tru-oil, or any oil (Tru oil is based on linseed oil, and all real oils literally turn into plastic as they polymerize by oxidation, they stink, never really become "hard", aren't completely translucent looking and crack as they agel)

I don't suggest any synthetic based stuff (polyurethane, epoxy, synthetic shellac, synthetic varnish). Multiple reasons for this, not going to digress.

You mentioned low-tech, and the best method is "low-tech", as in it has been done for hundreds of years with natural materials. But it's not "homer simpson easy" as in buying a can of some shtuff and shmearing it on your instrument. It's DIY

It's what's used on classical violins, such as Stratovarius, to get the best sound. It also doesn't involve anything toxic.

To do it right, it basically consists of an undercoat, called the "Grounding" (gum arabic, egg white and honey, though it sometimes also contains shellac flakes) mixed with a silica rich mineral component, which was originally volcanic ash (cheap online), but you can also use diatomaceous earth (also cheap).
Then you varnish over this layer, with varnish (recipe below) and then buff it to a glossy finish. You can skip the grounding if you want super simple, and just use multiple layers of varnish instead, but it won't sound, look, or last as well.
To make the old style varnish, there are a few recipes. The best uses tree rosin, pine essential oil, mastic gum, linseed oil and a mineral drying agent.
But if you just use rosin and pine essential oil, it should be durable enough, as long as the ground layer is thick enough, or you use multiple coats.
The rosin by itself is brittle, the reason they add linseed and mastic gum is to make it more flexible, but if you use linseed, even pre-oxidized linseed (boiled, or "venitian", various forms exist) it needs a drying agent, called burnt alum, so it's a bit of a grocery list.
To get the varnish making supplies, I use: http://www.woodfinishingenterprises.com/varnish.html
To get volcanic ash: ($2/lb) http://www.standardceramic.com/Materials.html

Nothing looks, feels, or sounds as good as natural materials. It might not affect the sound of an electric as much, but the feel and look might matter a lot to you, YMMV.

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

You're right John. I know a guy here who sprays on Tru-Oil and he buffs it out to a high gloss. He used many, many coats though and I have no idea how durable it is with playing or how it holds up over the years. You have some insight?

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You can't double coat with Tru-Oil like you can with lacquer, it will drip off the wood unless its a flat, horizontal surface. Some gunsmiths have made a rotisserie device to hold the work and keep it slowly spinning so that gravity is sort of defied and heavy coats don't run. In warm weather two coats a day are possible, more if you use a hot box (good for rifles, not so good for ukes). Lacquer loses solvents like crazy, so despite more coats per day the build isn't much faster. But I wouldn't use Tru-Oil if I was set up to spray. Without real good ventilation the material settles all over you, coats your arm hairs and makes you feel gross. Same with sprayed varnish. Early on I applied finish with a blowpipe (aka Polish spray gun, no offense to Poles or spray guns) and even it atomized varnish enough to choke a room. (But it sure beat a brush!)

What is durability about, anyway? My picking styles don't rake my instruments, so even Danish Oil finishes don't get marred, though they don't stand above the wood at all. Enthusiastic strumming will scratch any finish over time. Small dings and dents eventually take a toll on any finish. Mike stands and cymbals will spoil anything, including your day. Tru-Oil doesn't seem to care about water, sweat, or alcohol. Take off your chain mail before playing and there shouldn't be a problem. I'm not advocating its use. I'll stick with lacquer. But I've used Tru-Oil on and off since 1967 and it has performed well.