Tru-oil finish; Tackiness and possible solutions

[slowlearner]

Right, so my 6 string has a tru-oil style finish. The specific formula is...
Gloss Poly lacquer
Boiled Linseed oil
Turps
All in equal parts.

The oil is totally dry and sealed. The problem I'm having is, it's a little tacky after playing for a while. My hands normally sweat a bit when I play and it seems to cause the tackiness. I always wipe it down when it does, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Last night it was more pronounced and I realised I need to do something.

Here are my options...
1. Sand the finish back and start again. I don't mind doing this, but I'm not 100% sure it will solve it, coz the bass sat for more than a week after I oiled it before I put it together and played it.
2. Clean it with something; turps/iso alcohol/naptha and see if that works. I'm a little worried it will just take the oil off.
3. Clean it a little and then wax it with carnuba wax or similar; I'm hoping this might make the neck a little more slick and sealed.

Thoughts?

[charangohabsburg]

Cheers Pete,

A friend of mine had the same problem with an ukulele from a well-known reputable maker in Hawaii. She solved the problem by wiping down the neck with turpentine. Well, actually she first went over it with the commercially available Tru-Oil, which did not dry properly within a few days (maybe she slapped on too much), and then she removed it with turpentine, and then it was fine, although I don't know for how much time because a few weeks later she sold it off...

If I were in your situation I would probably do what I recommended her: go over the neck with shellac, because shellac adheres well to almost every varnish, including oil varnish. She stayed away from shellac because she was too intimidated by all those old wife's tales regarding mysteries and difficulties attributed to french polish, but seems to have ended up with something that worked - at least for a couple of weeks, or maybe as a permanent solution, who knows.

[56nortondomy]

Hi Pete, you posted that recipe a while ago, so i thought i'd give it a go, i might have mixed it wrong i'm not sure, i think i got it right, but it stayed sticky for a couple of weeks so i ended up sanding it off, luckily it was only an armrest, i ended up spraying it with lacquer. Wayne

[slowlearner]

Ok, wow, I've had good results with it up till now. Bill Paulin put me onto it. The key is letting it dry properly between coats.

[Kim]

The mix i.e. poly/turps/BOL, sounds very much like a hand burnishing oil although probably not a 1/3rd turps.

Years ago, would have to be about 25+ by now I reckon, I re-finished an old English Oak knock down travelers table with it and it came up really well. Application on a large flat surface is to wipe the mix on liberally with a rag, and then rub the bejeezus out of it hard and fast with the palm of your hand to create friction/heat. The driers in the mix soon have it tacking up and the drag becomes intense until the mix hardens. By the time you get a coat on your arms are ready to fall off. You leave it for an hour or so, long enough to rest up your arms and kid yourself that it wasn't really 'that' hard, and then you go again. After a week and many session...beautiful...but you'll probably never do it again..but being young and stupid at the time helped me through it.

Cheers

Kim

[sebastiaan56]

Modern polys are not that well suited to Danish Oil type mixes of this type. They don't polymerise properly due to interactions with the BLO. This has been extensively discussed on the UBeaut forum. I learnt the hard was as well.

[Trevor Gore]

You might want to try the "Hard Burnishing Oil" by OrganOil: http://www.organoil.com.au/woodcraft/index.html

(The business seems to have been taken over, so I hope the formulations haven't changed, )

I've used it on bridges a couple of times and it does a good job. Also used it on non-guitar projects where it has worked fine. Not used it on a whole guitar. Lots of rubbing/frictional heat makes it set up harder and shiner, but a nice finish can be obtained just by wiping on and keeping the object warm. A couple of pics, both guitars with oiled bridges....

DSCF5957cc.jpg (100.95 KiB) Viewed 13905 times

[slowlearner]

I've figured out the issue is... my hands. I sweat a fair bit and it gets gritty and sticky. I tried waxing and it's ok for a little while, but then it gets sticky and grippy too. I'm going to strip the wax off and just clean the surface up I think. I don't think I've spent enough time cleaning the neck on the bass... and it has been played a fair bit too.

[printer2]

I had a neck I was doing with an old bottle of Tru-oil and it did not really want to harden. I took a cardboard box, put the neck and a 100 watt light bulb inside. Left enough of a opening that there will be some movement of air to remove any off-gassing but sealed enough to get an elevated temperature inside. Seemed to help it cure.