Day 39

More work on the truss rod cover. 

Day 38

The finish has cured for 12 days. Now I want to get out those wiping streaks. U can see them in these two pics. 

Applied 3M Finesse-It II to a clean cloth and polished with medium pressure. Wiped clean with a different cloth. Worked really well. See next two pics. 

Finally I went over everything with some lemon oil. Suppose to stop fingerprints. 

I read something about using denim or burlap to buff. I tried it and it just made scratches. Won't do that again. 

So in conclusion,  this method worked great for a gloss finish. For satin I would have waited the same time to cure, then scuff with grey or white scotchbrite. Then lemon oil. 

Lesson learned- After pore filling, the shellac was sprayed at 2lb cut (and probably too heavy) and wasn't leveled so I have some small dull splotches under the finish. 

Next time I'll be spraying a 1 lb cut very thin and maybe wet sand with 1000 before starting Tru-oil. 

Day 37

I had some maple left over from the top but it's at 1/8". So I milled it to 1/16". 

I milled some Brazilian rosewood to .040" and cut it into 1/4" strips. Routed a 1/4" wide lap joint in both pieces. About .020" deep (half of .040" height)

Made two crosses and glued them to the maple. One with superglue and one with wood glue. 

Day 36

Started the pick guard.  1/8" maple.  Chipped out on the router. Found the piece and I reglued it. 

Day 35

Scuffed with gray and then white scotchbrite.  Then wet sanded with 2000 wet/dry sandpaper. 

Diluted the Tru-oil with mineral spirits. 50/50. Wiped on 10th glaze coat. Found it better to wipe off with lint free paper towels. (Got less streaking)

Let dry about 5 hours and did another glaze coat. That would be 11 total coats. Wiped off with lint free paper towels. 

Now to let it cure (1-2 weeks). Then try to remove and streaks or scratches. Maybe try burlap first, or Finesse-It II Polish. 

Day 34 PM

Created pick guard and truss rod cover templates.  

Day 34 AM

9th coat of Tru-oil