2015-10-27

The finish - part I - the wood grain structure

As stated before, I don't wnat my guitar to have a high-gloss, smooth surface finish, but rather something where you don't only see the wood grain, but can still feel it as well.
I assume that sandblasting the body would do the trick, as this would probably come pretty close to how driftwood gets its looks.

On the other hand side, I don't want this effect to be over-exaggerated, and, I don't own a sand-blasting machine but want to do as much as possible on my own.
While thinking about how to achieve this look, I cam across the idea of using something like a steel brush on the body to remove parts of the softer grain structure to put a bit of emphasis on remaining the harder and darker grain structures.
I was a bit afraid though that the steel brush would take off too much, and that the steel brush might also put a dark dirty stain on the wood and deep into the grain that would be impossible to remove again afterwards.
While looking around for suitable brushes, I first came across a brass brush which would most likely be a bit softer and don't pose the risk of putting a stain, but then I found a nylon brush that is to be used on a power drill.

As I didn't want to ruin the body, I ran some tests on that area of the body that I wanted to carve away (as seen in this post: Shaping the body), and the result came out quite nicely.
Once I had carved the body, I then continued using the nylon brush on the entire body.
Unfortunately, the edges are quite hard, so that the effect on some of the edges is by far less visible than on the front of the guitar.


Also, the brush left quite a rough surface (which of course in part was what I wanted to achieve!), but then again, I also want the guitar to feel comfortable when touching it.

I will need to find a way to sand it down a bit more but retain the rugged look of the grain....

In this context - I'm planning to first use oil and then wax to protect the guitar.
I decided for this approach as it will keep the natural look of the wood very nicely, it can easily be achieved at home without a spray gun, and as far as I have read, it can also easily be repaired later on if that ever becomes necessary.

There's this UK-based company Wudtone - selling what I believe is a set of oils and different kinds of wax although I didn't really find any clear info on that.
They have plenty of different colors and surface fnishes to pick from. Whereas I will get different materials, their gallery of examples is really nice.
One of the body looks I really like is this one:
http://www.wudtone.com/shop/?wpsc-product=dark-tease


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