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I made a couple of small boxes out of ebony trimmed in curly maple and wanted to put a hand rubbed finish on them. I used Tru-Oil and it hasn't dried (on the ebony but is OK on the maple) in two weeks. It's still very gummy. I though about paste wax but wanted to stay with a matte oil based finish. Any suggestions?

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Don't know if you saw the Aug issue of Fine Woodworking, but it is all about rubbed finishes. After their tests, they found Minwax wipe on poly to be the best finish for hand rubbed finishes. I'm going by memory, so I could be wrong on the exact name of the finish. Can anyone confirm this?
Tracy

Yeah, I have that issue too. That is correct.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Tim,

Sometimes the old-fashioned way is the best. There's nothing like home-made Danish Oil. Mix equal parts oil (linseed or tung, although I like tung a little better), mineral spirits (or turpentine), and oil-based varnish. Wipe it on the ebony, let it five or ten minutes (but not so long it gets tacky), then wipe it off. Repeat once a day for the next few days. You might want to rub the ebony down with 0000 steel wool before each application.

If you use tung oil, you need to buy the stuff labelled "100% Pure Tung Oil." You do NOT want the stuff called "Tung Oil Finish."

(Some people vary the recipe by using 1/3 linseed oil, 1/3 tung oil, and 1/3 varnish. I haven't tried it, but people seem to get good results with it.)

The Minwax stuff is pretty popular if you are comparing it to other commercial products. But truth be told it's just a watered-down version of the ol' Danish Oil recipe. Making it yourself tends to be cheaper (although just a little) and, IMHO, produce better results.

Would wipe-on work to harden french polish? Would it ruin look of FP?

Why don't you just use shellac?

I have a similar recipe I call "Home Brew" and forgot all about it. Thanks for jogging my cluttered memory.

Shellac would work too but I didn't really want a surface finish but more of a penetrating semi gloss finish.

Thanks guys for all of the replies.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

I'm tryimg some varnish out on guitars and was having trouble getting the look and feel I wanted on the neck so after a few attempts I tried the Minwax wipe on poly, it seems to be working great. It looks hand rubbed and just the right sheen I was looking for. I wouldn't use it on anything guitar related except the neck but it seems to work great for that.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

[QUOTE=John How] I'm tryimg some varnish out on guitars and was having trouble getting the look and feel I wanted on the neck so after a few attempts I tried the Minwax wipe on poly, it seems to be working great. It looks hand rubbed and just the right sheen I was looking for. I wouldn't use it on anything guitar related except the neck but it seems to work great for that.[/QUOTE]


JOhn,
try rubbing the finish out with wax and steel wool for a really slick look and feel.