Tru-Oil neck finish

Second time finishing a neck. First time with Tru-oil.

Mahogany neck that I pore-filled with Aqua Coat. I have one coat of Tru-Oil on it.

So... Do you build coats without sanding between? Do you sand between every coat?

Also, what is standard for a neck, satin or glossy? With Tru-Oil and a satin finish, would you need lots of coats?

The ignorance never seems to go away; hopefully it just rears its head less frequently.

Chuck Barnett

I find that 5 or 6 very light coats(rub on rub off) is enough on the neck to produce the finish(satin) and feel I like. Buffing with 0000 steel wool midway and to finish.

Tru oil is very forgiving. You'll probably get a range of responses because there are lots of ways to do it. And it's easy to go forwards (add more coats) towards a thicker glossier film, or go backwards (sand some off then topcoat to hide the sanding scratches) towards a thinner more satin film. It's also easy to touch up or fix if you end up with a bad spot. And there's enough solids in it that once you have a consistent film, you can knock down or buff up to whatever sheen you want - although it tends to naturally get glossier with more coats. It also takes wax well. For most finishes, I think it makes sense for people new to them to work on scrap pieces first to get the technique down. But tru oil is so hard to mess up you can just have at it on the real thing you want to finish, and deal with any issues if or when they come up.

For a neck I would wipe on light coats, sand every two or three with high grit wet dry paper or mesh (800 or so) and stop when it looks good to you. Sanding every coat will make for slow going since you'll be removing most of the material you just put down. You really want to sand just enough to remove any dust bumps or other imperfections, you barely need to touch it otherwise. Tru oil doesn't need sanding in between coats to help it adhere like some finishes do, you just to get rid of imperfections. Tru oil's one downside (to me, at least) is that it builds thickness slowly. I've had people show me instruments they finished with tru oil that they had to put 20 or more coats on to get things to build out evenly. Usually those people have a very heavy hand when it comes to sanding (and/or they like a thicker film versus a thin finish with a "natural wood" feel).

I find necks feel best at a satin finish. On some woods you can get uneven absorption of the first few coats due to differences in grain, so you're forced to do more coats just to get even coverage. But mahogany doesn't tend to do that, and the aqua coat will help. So you'll probably hit a good satin finish somewhere between 5 and 10 coats.

Thank you! Lots of good information in there. Nothing beats experience for knowing what you're doing, yes?

mikeyb2 said:

I find that 5 or 6 very light coats(rub on rub off) is enough on the neck to produce the finish(satin) and feel I like. Buffing with 0000 steel wool midway and to finish.

Click to expand...

"rub on, rub off"

I was of the understanding that you just use a rag or a sponge brush and wipe this stuff on and then get away from it. Are you saying that you rub it in? Or that you wipe it on and then wipe again over the top of that to pick up excess?

And, thanks for your help!

I don't want to speak for mikeyb2, but there are a lot of ways to do it, to be honest. The real goal is a thin even coat. I tend to apply with a foam pad that has a cotton rag wrapped around it, and by loading just enough oil on the pad I find I can get a good even coat by sort of aggressively wiping. Not really "rubbing" in the sense that you'd do a rubbed finish (like a french polish) but more aggressive than just a quick wipe. If you find that you're leaving a lot of oil on the work, you do definitely need to wipe it back off before it starts to set. Tru-oil can be problematic if you leave too much on the work, since it'll take a really, really long time to fully cure in a thicker coat like that. You'll find it's still tacky days later. At that point you really just need to sand it off and start over.

So you can either wipe/rub on a thin coat, or if your wiping technique results in anything resembling a thick coat being left down, let it sit for a minute and then quickly wipe/rub with a pad or rag that's not as loaded with finish, so you can pull the extra off.

Chuck, you may find this video useful. There are several but the finishing with Truoil starts here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APKDrCXW6QU&list=PL-PfXDVjd0-irvxqpoCOL_C91hzTyWN-V&index=185
I learnt from this and it works for me, just stop when you're happy with the look( and feel of the neck)
Mike

An alternative to Truoil that is even easier is to use tung oil. I have used it some instruments and the Formby's mat finish looks pretty good with minimal work. 4 or 5 coats with 0000 steel wool in between each coat over a week gives a nice looking mellow finish. I suspect the durability of the finish on a neck might be an issue, but it is a finish worth considering. I use shellac and I can tell you it is a lot of work and can be problematic if you are not experienced.

mikeyb2 said:

Chuck, you may find this video useful. There are several but the finishing with Truoil starts here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APKDrCXW6QU&list=PL-PfXDVjd0-irvxqpoCOL_C91hzTyWN-V&index=185
I learnt from this and it works for me, just stop when you're happy with the look( and feel of the neck)
Mike

Click to expand...

I'm with Mike. That's my preferred method. Also, I have used truoil cut 50/50 with naptha as a first coat. Also as a last coat because it flows out smoothly...but don't keep going over it.

Just google "tru oil" and you will find more info than you will ever need. Some of these people achieve finishes with tru oil that are really amazing and it is "tru ly" a forgiving medium.

sequoia said:

An alternative to Truoil that is even easier is to use tung oil. I have used it some instruments and the Formby's mat finish looks pretty good with minimal work. 4 or 5 coats with 0000 steel wool in between each coat over a week gives a nice looking mellow finish. I suspect the durability of the finish on a neck might be an issue, but it is a finish worth considering. I use shellac and I can tell you it is a lot of work and can be problematic if you are not experienced.

Click to expand...

There's a difference between Formby's "Tung Oil Finish" and Pure Tung Oil. Formby's is really a wiping varnish. I used Pure Tung Oil on my first uke project, and while it looked great, it took a long time to cure. The stuff really soaks in, and after my final coat, I was wiping excess oil that was seeping to the surface three times a day for a few days. It took about a month to cure and the oil smell to go away, but it did make a beautiful finish.

this is achievable
https://www.instagram.com/misstruoil/

(Warning: potential thread hijack here. Apologies to the OP)

tonyturley said:

There's a difference between Formby's "Tung Oil Finish" and Pure Tung Oil. Formby's is really a wiping varnish.

Click to expand...

From Wikipedia: The name is often used by paint and varnish manufacturers as a generic name for any wood-finishing product that contains the real tung oil or provides a finish that resembles the finish obtained with tung oil.

The Formby's stuff is a witches brew of synthetic chemicals and I suspect it contains no tung tree nut oil at all. But it works pretty good.

mikeyb2 said:

Chuck, you may find this video useful. There are several but the finishing with Truoil starts here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APKDrCXW6QU&list=PL-PfXDVjd0-irvxqpoCOL_C91hzTyWN-V&index=185
I learnt from this and it works for me, just stop when you're happy with the look( and feel of the neck)
Mike

Click to expand...

Mike, THANK YOU! A LOT of detail here. I didn't know this guy existed. I found myself watching several in sequence. Now I understand why some say wipe it on and walk away as opposed to wipe it on and wipe it off. I wonder about the taped off bridge area. Is that standard with builders? On my first one, I scraped the shellac off to glue the bridge. Can you not do that with an oil finish? Or?

Tukanu said:

I'm with Mike. That's my preferred method. Also, I have used truoil cut 50/50 with naptha as a first coat. Also as a last coat because it flows out smoothly...but don't keep going over it.

Click to expand...

What do you sand to before pore filling? I did 220 per somebody's advice. I did 3 coats of Aqua Coat for pore-filler and sanded with 320 between and at the end. Is that adequate for this light, very light method of Tru-Oil finishing? Between applications, the guy in the video uses a special 0000 steel wool from Germany -Luster Sheen, I think. He also seems to do only one coat per day. Is that your method as well? And I heard that you could do 12 to 20 coats of Tru-Oil, but it doesn't seem to be so with his method.

dwizum said:

I don't want to speak for mikeyb2, but there are a lot of ways to do it, to be honest. The real goal is a thin even coat. I tend to apply with a foam pad that has a cotton rag wrapped around it, and by loading just enough oil on the pad I find I can get a good even coat by sort of aggressively wiping. Not really "rubbing" in the sense that you'd do a rubbed finish (like a french polish) but more aggressive than just a quick wipe. If you find that you're leaving a lot of oil on the work, you do definitely need to wipe it back off before it starts to set. Tru-oil can be problematic if you leave too much on the work, since it'll take a really, really long time to fully cure in a thicker coat like that. You'll find it's still tacky days later. At that point you really just need to sand it off and start over.

So you can either wipe/rub on a thin coat, or if your wiping technique results in anything resembling a thick coat being left down, let it sit for a minute and then quickly wipe/rub with a pad or rag that's not as loaded with finish, so you can pull the extra off.

Click to expand...

Thanks, again! It sounds like most like Tru-Oil for a less than glossy finish. I sanded after 3 coats of "wipe it on and get away". Used 400 grit because that's what the internet says 0000 steel wool is equal to. (Not so sure about that.) Also, I didn't want to use steel wool and create streaks and grooves. (Rookie... ignorant, remember?)

Chuck, you're more likely to cause grooves etc. with sandpaper, 0000 steel wool is very fine and is my choice for this (some builders use grey scotchbrite pads but I still prefer steel wool). I also mark out the bridge area and tape it off before any finishing. It seems to be a commonly used process and works for me. I apply tape then place the bridge in position(using locating pins) and draw a fine pencil line around it. I then take away the bridge and use a scalpel to cut the tape, but I usually cut inside the pencil line by about 1 mm to allow a little wiggle room. Some cut dead on the line, but I seem to run into problems when I try that. Pull away the excess tape and there you go.
Another thing I can add id that when I first tried using Truoil, I applied a few coats and then some wax, and it looked horrible so I decided to try and remove the wax with 0000 steel wool. Amazingly when I did this it transformed into a fantastic smooth silky finish, so on my next build I applied the wax with steel wool as a final finish.

The problem with using sandpaper (dry) is that finish can accumulate and clog the sandpaper and that will scratch your finish. Yes, use the 0000 steel wool... As for the bridge, I do tape off as mikeyb2 does and I do cut inside the line too by about 1/16 of an inch. This makes a smooth, seamless transition of finish to bridge once you glue it on. Also you still have plenty of "meat" to glue to as bare wood.

Thanks, Sequoia, for that confirmation. I've already got started on finishing so I guess I will do the scrape method this time. I think I will try taping off in the future. You would surely think that on my second build I would have had an easier time of it. But I will invoke Ken Timm's graphic which, loosely paraphrased read, I've learned so much from my mistakes I think I'm going to make a few more!

I've tried several different methods in the instruments I've built. My worst effort was when I fully assembled a uke and taped off the bridge and fretboard before going at it with the Tru-Oil. I just couldn't get a satisfactory application in the tight spots where I had masked off the parts. On my most recent uke, I measured and masked off the bridge and neck joint locations, and worked on applying very thin layers of oil. I didn't try to completely fill the wood pores on the soundboard, so if I hold the instrument against the light a certain way, I can see the wood grain, but since I built the instrument for myself, I can live with that. I also used an epoxy resin pore fill on the back & sides. Tru-Oil over the sanded resin looks great, but that's another discussion.