Tung oil/Teak oil refinish question...

[Jupiter]

Hey guys!
Well, my Project:Kermit { Schecter c-7 } is well on it's way. I've stripped it down to the bare wood, and i was wanting to know something...
i can't afford to buy the paint for the refinish right now, so i was wondering if i could rub it down with some Tung, Bore, Lemon, or Teak oil to protect the wood and to make it look a little prettier, if possible. ALSO, if i do a temporary oil finish, then whenever i can afford to buy paint, can i just paint over it, or would that cause problems?
One last thing, which oil would look the best??? The body is solid basswood, to give you an idea of how the wood looks.
Please help!
*!*Ben*!*

[darren wilson]

I could be wrong, but i believe that once you've oiled the body, you're pretty much screwed for putting any other kind of finish on it. Generally, surfaces to be painted need to be as oil-free as possible.

[Lonely Raven]

Darren is right.

The whole idea behind using oil, is that it soaks into the cellular structure
of the wood and protects it, and/or stiffens it. And if you chose, can color
it some.

You would have to sand down low enough to get past all that oil. And if
you don't...you wind up with splotches where the paint won't adhere too!
That would be terrible.

[Rich]

Before you spray it it needs a seal coat anyway. Find out what EXACTLY you will be paining it with eventually and get a *compatible* seal coat to spray it with now.

[Jupiter]

well, based on what you guys have said, i may have an 'uh-oh' on my hands...
The other night, i put a little bitty tiny winy bit of lemon oil on it, just to see what it would look like... when i say a little, i mean a literal drop on a rag for the whole body.
Will this cause problems?
It made the wood look good, though!!!
Ben

[Project Guitar]

Based on what you said about your "uh-oh" I doubt it will hurt your finishing it off but do like Rich said and get a sanding sealer on the body.

If all you spread on it was that very tiny bit, the new bear wood probably will have absorbed it by now anyway.

[Vaibanez]

Brian is right.
But at this point, you may have limited your selection of finish midiums.

Lemon oil is an organic substance unlike tung oil which is petrolium based.

Think of a piece of wood like a thick rope with a billion 5 tightly compacted strands. When you spray a sealer on to the body, the drying process causes a wicking effect. It will try to pull the small amount of oil you applied to the surface.

A petrolium based sealer will be adversly affected by the lemon oil due to its organic nature. Like oil and water.

If you use a water based sealer, you should be fine.

[Rich]

Lemon oil is petroleum "contains petroleum distillates"

[sniperfrommars1]

Rich is right poor it in water. The thing about lemon oil though is that it seems to be not so permanent as it works its way around the necks can dry, and like i said in another post, rubbing alcohol draws the oil out I dont know why but thats what the wolfgang boys on the wolfy forums do to get oil out of their necks. BE VERY VERY VERY VERY careful and Use VERY VERY VERY little when doing this. test on a peice of wood or you could do some damage but this will remove the oil from bare wood

[darren wilson]

Also bear in mind that basswood is an extremely soft and porous wood. It's going to soak up a LOT of whatever you put on it. Chances are, that tiny little bit of oil has worked its way deep into the wood.

Basswood is also ridiculously soft, so if you leave it unfinished for any length of time, i'd suggest being very, very gentle with it. It bruises very easily, and you could end up with an uneven surface that wouldn't look good with any finish.

[ripl3y]

What wood is the guitar made of?

If it's an open pore wood then you can spend £5 on the grain filler and £5 on some spray-can shellac sealer, this is assuming you want a solid finish.

You really need to be certain when finishing a guitar, you can't piss around with things.
The best thing to do is wait until you can finish the guitar totally....I never touch mine until all is ready...i.e. guitar is made and sanded ready to accept the finish....I won't start the finish unless I know I have the paint/lacquer to complete the job.

Good luck.

Steve

[ripl3y]

I don't know the model but from Darren's post I presume it's a Basswood body???

Oiled Basswood looks bloody awful so if I was you I'd concentrate my efforts on a solid/metallic....blah de blah finish.

Don't go near it with any more oil.

Grain fill it and seal it if you want to play it before you can finish it, although I would recommend waiting until you have the money to do the complete job.

Steve

[darren wilson]

Originally Posted by Jupiter

The body is solid basswood

I think Steve's advice is sound... finishing a guitar is something that's best done in one go, especially if you want to play it as soon as possible.

[bammbamm]

I'm actually debating doing something similar with the Jem body I have.
I was planning on painting it white like the VWH, but I kind of like the natural wood ( Alder ) with a white pearloid pickguard.

My question is this, according to the Tung Oil mfr, you make 2 applications and polish... having never worked with tung oil, how is this achieved? Just buff it or what?

Bamm

[darren wilson]

Tung oil isn't a high-gloss finish, so you don't really have to buff it... more like a good rub.

What i've done in the past is apply one coat, quite heavy, and let it really sink into the wood. Let it sit for about four hours, then apply a second coat, and rub it in a bit more, then wipe off the excess and give it a good rub with a cotton rag. Let it dry for 24 hours, and it'll have a silky smooth touch and great depth.

Come to think of it, my walnut-bodied custom is in desperate need of re-oiling.