Walnut Speaker

[Cantplay]

I've been playing with ammonia fumes on some scraps of oak, cherry, and walnut.

VERY pleased with the oak, less so with the other woods, but it is still an improvement.

Its not the mixing and applying the PD that would worry me, its the sanding afterwards.

John

[Reeltarded]

I don't like it because it leaves a purple tint on maple.

Oak and ammonia goes black if you let it. That can be cool looking!

[surfsup]

its the sanding afterwards.

On mine, I only put on 4 or 5 coats. The sanding was a pain. The paper gummed up after only a couple passes across the wood. It took forever. There's enough oil on there now that it looks "wet" even though its "dry" but I would like to know how to get more sanding in...

[Luthierwnc]

PD wouldn't necessarily be for an oil finish. I've mostly used it for mahogany guitars. I get it as smooth as I can, spray a single coat of the topcoat binder, sand that smooth and then use the pore filler. Then that gets sanded to bare wood. Next is damp sanding. Wipe it with a damp (not wet) cloth and let it dry. That makes the unattached wood fibers stand up. Sand them off and do it again. The third damp sand(s) are with the PD. Then you put another binder coat down and go to the gloss coats.

I can justify it for guitars but for amp heads I just do a quick and dirty Watco finish -- three coats tops plus some paste wax after that. They are going to get scratched and they are much easier to repair if you don't have a hard finish that needs to be sanded back a lot and/or refilled. If you have an air-powered jitterbug sander you can do the wet-or-dry coat in minutes. Wear a garbage bag with the arms and head cut through or plan to pitch the shirt.

sh

[Structo]

I believe if you take ammonia and steel wool you can make a grey type stain that is used to make wood look old.

I know a few guys that use it when making relic guitars.

I haven't tried it but I would be cautious about the fumes or reaction, it may get hot.

You guys should really try Tru Oil, it is available just about anywhere gun supplies are sold.

It's pretty much a fool proof finish and dries hard in a day or two.

The secret is to apply thin coats. I wear surgical gloves and rub it on with my fingers, taking care to avoid runs.

Lightly burnish it with 0000 steel wool or synthetic wool between coats.
I can usually apply three coats a day.

I really like it on guitar necks.

[Bob S]

+++ on Tru Oil.
Light coatings like Tom says. It gets better every coat.
OCD tendencies can lead to 15 coats or more
And a nagging desire to do one last coat...

[Reeltarded]

LOL

Bob, it's art. It's never finished. You have to decide when to give up!

[Structo]

While I am on the soap box about Tru Oil, you can also grain fill by sanding the wood with TO on it, forming a slurry.

Basically if you like the look of a oiled finish you will like TO.
You can make it glossy as lacquer or burnish it for a flatter look.

<steps down>

[Cantplay]

OK you'se win!

I ordered a tallboy of Tru Oil.

BTW: You had me at 'easy'

John

[Cantplay]

Back and front for head case done, from the cutoffs of the speaker back.

[img:535:768]http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/ ... o_Back.jpg[/img]

[img:543:768]http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/ ... _Front.jpg[/img]

John

[Reeltarded]

omg it's beautiful!

If I were better at layout I would recover one of my super leads in walnut veneer just for seeing that. Amazing looking! Simple and let the wood do the talking.

[gktamps]

Man. The talent of the folks on this forum is astounding.
Simply gorgeous work, John. And it's obvious the rest of you know what you're doing!
Cheers,
Greg

[Structo]

Wow!

That wood is gorgeous!

Nice wood working skills there.

[boots]

Wow, that's absolutely gorgeous!!! That's so beautiful I'd be afraid to ever take it out of the house!

Did you do the dovetails by hand?

[vibratoking]

Beautiful work and wood!

Can I put the first scratch on it for ya? Or do you wanna do that yourself too?