I'm putting Wudtone on an alder body at the moment, but I'm getting convinced that the finish is going to be far from flat when it's all done. It's the Olympic Girl colour, and I've been following the 'stippling' technique that everyone seems to recommend for the solid colours, but the oil just doesn't self level enough as far as I'm concerned. I've put just over a bottle (out of the 2) on, and although it looks white, it's patchy and obviously still has some way to go before being more solid. I'm not after a completely solid white finish, but I'm starting to lose hope a little and am beginning to fear having to do a full removal at the end. It's taking bloody ages too which isn't helping.
If I can get an even colour, I was thinking that a very light wet sand might do the trick, but I'm worried that that will just remove the white finish as it's very thin. Has anyone wet sanded Wudtone at all to flatten a finish?
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It is quite soft though, and I'd be hesitant to sand it heavily.
I'm looking at a dappled finish on a black jazzmaster, turquoise tele and red strat (that's pine, the others are swamp ash) and the pine has more visible dappling. The swamp ash you couldn't tell, it's mostly grain of the wood.
If you try it, try it somewhere invisible eg inside the neck pocket. If you've not finished the neck pocket (I don't) then do it and give it a good 5 dappled coats before trying it.
If you do this, try it with micromesh sandpaper. It's extremely fine grit.
After applying dappled coats (7-10 iirc) I apply another number of thin, rubbed on coats. This helps a bit.
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I played around a good bit with it when it first came out and you can get a pretty good finish.
If you want to get a greater shine I have used car microabrasive paste and meguires to buff it further.
All that said its an oil and slow drying so you need to put it away for at least a month before trying to buff it down. not sure I would go down the micro abrasion route as reliced one finish very easily with a light rub with oooo wire wool to get the effect of a fender refinish coming through a red top coat.
I would also spot test before to make sure its dry enough.
HTH
Not tried Olympic girl but the lady teal I used last came with a white base coat & a separate colour pigment; the base coat was for diluting the teal dye.
I've just used a bit of leftover base coat on a piece of ash to see if it could be used as a full finish and it hardly left any colour on the wood at all.
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When I began, I put about 3 thin coats on and they made no impact at all. It was only when I started dabbing it one that it added any colour, and with that you get the orange peel finish.
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I found that it worked best by applying it in "patches" rather than "coats" by working on a reasonably small area and really rubbing the colour well into the wood before moving on to the next patch of the body.
Given all its other issues, I've moved on to the Crimson products now, and find them much easier to use and more reliable in terms of the finish.
I've had good results with teal & orange, and to a certain extent dark tease (although that wasn't the colour I was after).
Found that really rubbing it in and going over it with wire wool before the next coat gives a good, even finish with no orange peel.
I do think that the bottles aren't big enough and you probably need two sets to get a really deep, solid finish.
It's a shame as the neck kit has been super easy and looks great. The body on the other hand has been far more difficult than i was expecting.
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http://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/product/osmo-polyx-oil?gclid=Cj0KEQjwi7vIBRDpo9W8y7Ct6ZcBEiQA1CwV2F_0-Fv3u6ICZuNXi7S-Nyd4pWbbOYcxNwb60geROs4aAg8q8P8HAQ
Some of it may have an added oil based varnish, I speculate on that bit. Think I recanted the story a while back where I knew the smell of it but could not place it.
You can simply colour it up with any type of oil based pigments I have used anything from oil based dyes to
This was straight forward mix up of Windsor and Newton oil pigment.
Also this was a partial experiment on a Fender type colour with an aged top coat to see how strong to make the age tint.
So definitely oil base :-) In fact I seem to remember its 7 oils polymerised.
I did a good few bodies from a 750ml for friends when I was playing with it and its pretty easy to mix any colour you fancy.
I want to try a new finish next time but it'll be a while before I do another. I may try a milk paint, or the crimson finishes. The wudtone kits are good I think (certainly worked every time for me) but they're limited and I did need practice to get best results.
My favourite wudtone kits were the rub in translucent colours. They were stunning. The solid ones do work, or at least, acceptable for me. I believe I could get better results from other methods.
Oh god yes, he done my head in with every post.
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/89942/caspercaster#latest