Thread: Wooden scales. Water proofed or stained?

Here's what you do with wooden scales. Light a fire, get it nice and hot, and then throw those scales in there. Then go make scales out of something nice instead!

James.

Honestly if you are thinking wood scales you should first decide on the wood and then decide on the finish...

There is a ton of hints and tricks to finishing woods not only on here but also by way of Google, be careful when reading on some of the wood working forums as Scales and many projects have nothing in common


ie: match the finish to the wood there are other oils that work very well on tight grain look at Danish oil and Teak oil too


For a really good scale wood look at Lignum Vitae, it is near waterproof with out a finish, easy to cut, work, and polish too

TruOil will give the wood a shiny appearance whereas the oils (linseed & tung) will give it a luster. I prefer the linseed and tung oils better although they take longer to finish.

Originally Posted by fast14riot

Shellac is nice but doesn't like water very much.

Ironically it is great for sealing & waterproofing wood prior to applying your chosen finish.

Originally Posted by jbtusa

TruOil will give the wood a shiny appearance whereas the oils (linseed & tung) will give it a luster. I prefer the linseed and tung oils better although they take longer to finish.

Tru-Oil gives a nice deep finish that is easy to touch up if needed. You can accelerate the application process by using armorall as a catalyst to cure it in minutes. I've done 15 coats in one afternoon that way. Do a google search for woodstocks amazing stock finish for specific details.

Here is 8 coats of Tru-Oil on some plain mahagony. I since have cut the shine back a bit with #0000 steel wool to give a wonderful satin finish. But do pick the wood first, and then the finish will be determined by that.




-Xander

Boy it has been a looong time since I have posted anything. You are putting the cart before the horse. The first issue is deciding on what wood you want. You mention cocobolo which is nice but has a lot of challenges in working. First off, the dust will kill you so ware a respirator and run a dust collector. Second issue, cocobolo has a very, very high oil content. There are only a few finishes that will work. The oils in the wood will keep most finishes sticky, it will never fully cure. You can wipe on an oil finish to deepen the wood color but something like true oil, tung oil, urethane, etc... will not harden. You need to use a chemically hardened finish like CA, Epoxy resin, or a catalyzed urethane. The nice thing about cocobolo is that it is naturally water resistant. You can sand it up through 2000 grit then hit it with some white buffing compound to put a nice sheen on it and leave it as is.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Honestly if you are thinking wood scales you should first decide on the wood and then decide on the finish...

Originally Posted by cannonfodder

Boy it has been a looong time since I have posted anything. You are putting the cart before the horse. The first issue is deciding on what wood you want.

Hmmmmm I think maybe we might have done this a time or two in the past

Also remember most oils if not all will darken the wood so some extent "kind of hide the grain" so you will want to know what you want your wood to look like when it is done.

I did a quick search of Tru-oil/ Armor All. Here is what I found interesting.......Using Armor All to speed up drying time of Tru Oil [Archive] - Telecaster Guitar Forum

Please note the use of Japan Drier in place of Armor All. No silicone if that is a concern to anyone.