Finalizing the finish

[Houngan]

With several coats of Tru-Oil on the mandolin, I'm ready to finish the finish, but I'm fuzzy on the steps and order. What I think I need to do is:

1. Let the oil harden a couple of weeks
2. Then buff the oil finish to as smooth as I can get it
3. Then add wax and buff that down as far as I can

Is there a step of scuffing, sanding, wet sanding, etc. in there that I'm missing?

Thanks,

Matt

[gregoriousd]

It really depends on how pro of a finish you are looking for. If your current state of curing tru oil is streak/witness line free you won't have to do much to do but buff with some Novus 2 and bask in the glory of your new creation. There are so many ways to skin a cat with tru oil I cannot personally advise what is best, but if you do want to go full out professional gloss you could run through a course of micro mesh pads. If you dig around outside of the MC on the internet about tru oil finish there are some really helpful threads in a telecaster forum. I say all of this because I just finished my IV kit recently with a tru oil finish, a dozen coats then two agonizing weeks of waiting and I am very happy. Enjoy!!

[HoGo]

How many layers? How thick. I once aplied almost 20 layers of TO and when I scraped part of finish off, the thickness was invisible to naked eye. That would be very easy to burn through... Many folks just lightly sand with micromesh or 1200 or so paper just to get rid of any dust particles and streaks and apply very carefully few final coats that will prevent witness lines after final buffing.

[fox]

I apply three coats a day, micro mesh the next morning, three more coats & repeat for 7-10 days.
Leave for 4 weeks min but longer if possible then wet sand with super fine abrasive sponge before hand rubbing with Tcut (a very fine metallic car paint restorer) finally polish with a bees wax polish.
Quite a lot of work & trouble getting there if you want a really clean finish but truoil offers a beautiful hue to the wood & does go very hard after a few months.