IV kit Progress

[buddyellis]

I've finally broken down, dissapointed with previous finishing attempts, and gone with a spirit varnish finish and am currently starting to french polish the instrument. Steep learning curve, but its turning out pretty good.

Lessons learned so far:

1. Lint Free Cloth, Lint Free Cloth, Lint Free Cloth.

2. Learning when enough rubbing is enough. It's easy to overdo one area and end up creating alot of work for yourself.

3. Use an adequate amount of oil. I was afraid of using too much. Dont float the thing in it, but a drop or two every time you recharge the muneca with shellac is fine, or whenever it starts sticking.

4. Keep the muneca SPOTLESSLY clean. Any dust that shows up on the face of the thing will either scratch the top or end up embedded in the top, and its a nightmare to get those specks out, as far as I can tell. Any suggestions other than sanding them out lightly, and not letting them get there in the first place?

Did I say Lint free cloth?

Here's how it looks so far:


More here: Mandolin Polishing

[Bill Snyder]

Looks good. Nice color.

[buddyellis]

Looks good. Nice color.

Was better before I cut through the vigennete last week, but I'm not about to start over again.

That piece of spruce was hard to stain evenly. It's almost like the bookmatch (if it was bookmatched even) had one piece flipped end to end by the way it accepted stain. It's all a learning experience though, and it's been quite enjoyable.

-b