Flinthills #7 in the Flint Hills

[Mark Franzke]

I just finished this one to have at Winfield. I pulled off the turnpike on the way down to take the picture. I used all maple bindings on this one, and gloss lacquer. Red, mahogany, and black color tone thinned with alcohol.

[Mark Franzke]

Here is a close up of the bindings.

[Mark Franzke]

The backside:

[Mark Franzke]

And the headstock:

[unklemean]

nicely done

[jmkatcher]

Very very pretty. The headstock inlay is very tasteful, too.

[HoGo]

Beautiful mandolin!
Did you seal the bindings before staining? I'm on my #7 now and #8 I plan to go back to maple bindings for #8.

[Mark Franzke]

I put a piece of black plastic binding between the body and the maple binding, and then protected the binding with masking tape. The plastic acted like a dam to keep the stain from bleeding. I wiped the reddish stain on starting in the center and worked it close to the edge keeping it fairly dry around the edges. Then I airbrushed along the edge, spraying lightly to keep it from going on wet. Then airbrushed the darker colors. There was minimal scraping of the binding.

[HoGo]

Thanks.
Keeping it dry at the tape was wise. I did tests with masking tape years ago and the stain seems to get under the tape wery easily. So I ended up spraying colored varnish and scraped the bindings. I'll probably try sealing with lacquer with artist brush next time, so I will be able to use stains on bare wood.