Bare wood Body Finish. Tung Oil vs. Tru- Oil?

[jerryjg]

Ive assembled some guiatrs with bare wood bodies. My recent assembly is mahogany, that looks like it has had a few coats of "Tung oil".
I had never "tru- oiled" anything, but was amazed at how evenly the birchwood Casey Tru-oil spray went on, and what a light coat it took to develop a thick almosy poly like shiny finish.
The mahaogany body is drying now( its takeing awhile vs. Tung oil i think) and has a beautiful shine that Im going to finish out with the gunstock finish stuff.
so back to the question.
It nust be better to hand rub 30 caots of Tung oil into the wood then to spray one thick coat of Tru-oil. That would stand to reason. Can you do the tung oil treatments, then finsih it with the tru-oil ?
I know you can finish the tru-oil by either wax or use the Birch casy gunstock finish stuff. Waht do you think?

 

[vinterland]

Re: Bare wood Body Finish. Tung Oil vs. Tru- Oil?

I dunno but oil finished bodies resonate like hell. I miss mine.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Bare wood Body Finish. Tung Oil vs. Tru- Oil?

Tung oil and tru oil are different- each is meant to soak into the wood itself- I don't think tru-oil will stick to hardened tung oil.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Bare wood Body Finish. Tung Oil vs. Tru- Oil?

I don't see why you would mix the two anyway.

I have finished several necks/bodies with Tru Oil, but I used Minwax "Tung Oil" finish on the Washburn body. The Minwax stuff is easier than pure tung oil, dries faster and protects longer.

Tru Oil is a harder finish than any of the tung oil products and can be wet sanded super slick and polished if desired. I have never tried Tru oil over tung, but I have used it over various stains with good results.

I used the BC wax on the Washburn and it evened out the color and left the body silky smooth.

 

[eggman]

Re: Bare wood Body Finish. Tung Oil vs. Tru- Oil?

Howdy,

If I knew how to post pics I would. I've got a Tung-oiled Tele body and it looks and plays great. It's a 2-piece flamed Mahogany body from USACG. I put about 6 coats on and it looks like a million bucks. Love it.

Eggman

 

[donnievaz]

Re: Bare wood Body Finish. Tung Oil vs. Tru- Oil?

Howdy,

If I knew how to post pics I would. I've got a Tung-oiled Tele body and it looks and plays great. It's a 2-piece flamed Mahogany body from USACG. I put about 6 coats on and it looks like a million bucks. Love it.

Eggman

OK, I NEED to see that. Here's what you do. Open a free account at photobucket.com, upload the pics (way easy). Then copy the url of the pic (you'll see what I mean on the photobucket site). Then when you create your post, click the yellow button with the mountain and paste the url in.

 

[jerryjg]

Re: Bare wood Body Finish. Tung Oil vs. Tru- Oil?

Since this thread was brought TTP, I'll expound a little. First off, late last night, early this morning I was useing the search function and found a lot of prior great posts about this type of finishing. Ill post the link(s) later.
Secondly, Im doing a Mahogany Warmoth Strat body assembly project right now* and I'll supply a few details;
a)I bought a spray can of Birchwood Casey Tru-oil gunstock oil at the Ace Hardware store.You get twice the amount as in the bottle for the same price.The way this stuff goes on is so easy and fullproof there oughta be a law against it.
One thick coast for the back(foolproof) and two caots ( waiting 24 hours between) for the front with some light sanding in between is waht youll see the results of in the pics i just snapped real quick like.
b) Im going to let it cure about 48 hours and then either use the Birchwood Casey Sheen and Condiitoner( which imparts a old Cello like Satin-y look..or most likely will just wax it with some old Johnsons wax I have laying around.
c) I chose not to put too much effort into this by sanding/filling etc. I actually would prefer the look of the Mahogany with the garin filled though.
d) OBTW..this little beaut has a USACG neck and a set of LewGuitars original Duncan Proto STK-S4 stacks i was luck-e enuf to scavenge off Ebay. It was nearly karma!. I dig I'm a part of Duncan history/mojo in a roundabout way( and TY Seymour!)..
*;

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[eggman]

Re: Bare wood Body Finish. Tung Oil vs. Tru- Oil?

Howdy,

Donnie: if you are reading this, Jerryjg's photos posted above will give you a very good idea as to what my Tung-oiled Tele looks like. Remember that guitars finished this way aren't as bright and shiny in normal light. BTW, that's one dynamite Mahogany Strat!

Eggman

PS: I've described the color of my Tung-oiled Tele (and jerryjg's Strat would qualify as well, IMHO) as looking like Pumpkin pie filling.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Bare wood Body Finish. Tung Oil vs. Tru- Oil?

Do these finishes ever go back into your clothes when playing?

Can you apply a light die with this, any form of light color "tuning"?

 

[J Moose]

Re: Bare wood Body Finish. Tung Oil vs. Tru- Oil?

a)I bought a spray can of Birchwood Casey Tru-oil gunstock oil at the Ace Hardware store.You get twice the amount as in the bottle for the same price.The way this stuff goes on is so easy and fullproof there oughta be a law against it.
One thick coast for the back(foolproof) and two caots ( waiting 24 hours between) for the front with some light sanding in between is waht youll see the results of in the pics i just snapped real quick like.
b) Im going to let it cure about 48 hours and then either use the Birchwood Casey Sheen and Condiitoner( which imparts a old Cello like Satin-y look..or most likely will just wax it with some old Johnsons wax I have laying around.
c) I chose not to put too much effort into this by sanding/filling etc. I actually would prefer the look of the Mahogany with the garin filled though.

Tung Oil & Tru-Oil aren't even close to the same... Tru-Oil is more of a varnish & dries hard. About a month & change ago I finished a swamp ash Tele body & neck with the Tru-Oil. One of these days I'll get around to actually finishing the guitar!

You don't have to wait 24 hours between coats & really, I doubt that one coat is enough. Early on I discovered that the rattle can application wouldn't apply as thick & evenly as it did coming from the bottle. I ended up with several coats on the neck & body as I wanted to really layer up & protect. Spray it up, let it dry to the touch & hit it with 0000 steel wool, really lightly. Just enough to knock the gloss off & then hit it with another coat. On humid days I had to wait 5-6 hours, otherwise about three hours between coats.

I've only used the 'Sheen & Conditioner' on my test piece & can't say if I like the effect of it or not. I like the idea of extra protection... but I also like the gloss from the Tru-Oil, which really isn't even that glossy. It is but it's not like "new guitar" gloss.

Even with thick, multiple coats on the body I can still feel the grain coming through. I sanded & used a water based stain, skipping the filler because being a semi-hollow I didn't want to fill in the pores, let it resonate. Sanding sealer might've reacted with the stain I picked... Wet sanding fills the pores in anyway.

Here's a couple photos of a quick test fit after maybe three coats... and before I put on the rest!