Whittle's oil/wax finish

[vandenboom]

One of the posts lost from the last 6 months concerned use of Whittle's wax/oil as a finish.
Allen and John (I think) outlined their experience, which was all pretty positive.
I stripped the nitro neck on my own guitiar and tried the oil finish. As a player, I prefer it to nitro, but it looks a bit odd against the gloss back and sides finish.

I am just now finishing 2 OM's and a dread. I have nitro'd the top and headstock (to sink the decal) and am applying Whittles wax to the rest - back/sides and neck. Will put pictures up once done.

Allen - a question if you don't mind. I am applying 5 coats over 5 days and then leaving for a week to cure, pretty much following your directions I think. I will then cut back with 600/800/1200 and probably stop there. Does that sound about right? Also, hope this is not a dumb question, but when you cut back, do you do it wet or dry? The reason I ask is that when I did the neck on my own guitar, I did it wet and I felt there were areas that reacted differently to the wet sanding to others, which strikes me as odd as it's pretty hard to miss areas when wiping/rubbing oil.
Thanks. Frank

[Allen]

If you are talking about rubbing back the Wittle Wax, then I did it all dry. Didn't cross my mind to do a wet rub on it. I used a 3M Super Fine Pad. It's not rated in the "P" system, but I'd guess that it's around P600 from the feel of the grit when they are fresh.

I'm not sure how much build you are going to get with the wax, and if it does go through I think you are going to notice some areas that the grain sucks up water and raises grain. A bit like French Polishing, You don't want to cut through as it's going to take a bit of work to build it up again.

[John Maddison]

Hi Frank

May as well start from the beginning rather than try and re-invent previous posts ...

It's taken a bit of experimentation but I'm starting to get half-decent finishes on ukuleles using Whittle Wax Australia's Hardwax Oil manufactured by PNZ of Denmark.

Prep the wood to 320 grit, taking care to remove ALL scratch marks from previous grits; it's a bugger to have to go back in and remove scratches once you've started to apply even the thinnest of oil-based finishes. Then apply a weak coat of shellac to seal the wood - it is at this stage that any scratch marks stand out like the proverbial dog's 'you-know-what' ... best to sand out any scratches at this point. Once shellac is dried, LIGHTLY rub with 0000 steel wool and then remove all dust (a light wash of Shellite on a clean rag works fine).

Once dry, apply the first coat of Hardwax Oil, spreading evenly over ONE part of the instrument at a time as this stuff starts getting VERY tacky on contact with air within about half an hour. At about 10 minutes after application begin to rub off ALL excess oil with ANOTHER piece of lint-free rag, and then buff with ANOTHER piece of rag to totally ensure you've taken everything off that hasn't penetrated the wood (I'm finding torn-up old fleecy bedsheets are a good choice for this final buff). Start on other areas of the instrument, following the same technique. Once completed it's important to leave it hanging for at least 24 hours so that air can contact all surfaces.

Next day rub the first coat back very lightly with 0000 steel wool, which has previously been rubbed on a bit of smooth scrap to take the 'sharpness' off the wool, then dust off & rub again with rag & Shellite. I then apply the 2nd coat of Hardwax Oil as above & leave hanging again for another 24 hours.

After this second coat I now rub LIGHTLY with a piece of 4000 grit Micromesh paper, which can be used either wet or dry. I prefer to use the paper dipped in a bowl of water that has a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid in it (a great tip told to me by Hawaiian uke maker, David Hurd). The paper seems to just glide over the surface, without the dreaded 'cutting in'.

Again, work on one surface at a time, wiping off any excess liquid with a wrung-out kitchen sponge, then drying off with a clean rag, then move onto the next area of the instrument.

I repeat this process to five coats - apply the oil & rub off after 10 minutes | allow to dry overnight | lightly rub with Micromesh and clean off.

After five coats I let the instrument hang for AT LEAST a week to harden off, but I don't worry about doing a final rub with the Micromesh, before the polishing stage with U-Beaut's Traditional Wax (gotta thank Mike Connor for that one ). Whittle Wax also stock a Wax Finish, of which I've purchased a litre bottle but haven't yet played with it.

A note of minor caution here: the container label states 'Harmless After Application' so I play it safe and use disposable rubber gloves when working with the product, even during the buffing stages, and washing hands afterwards.

The Hardwax Oil is stated in the spec. sheet as producing a satin finish on wood surfaces after two coats, but five coats and then a fair degree of elbow grease and wax polish at the end can produce a fairly high sheen. A buffing wheel might even produce an even more lustrous finish. Having tried Tru-Oil once or twice, which CAN produce a gloss finish, I actually prefer the workability and the look of Hardwax Oil.

Given this stuff is used on timber flooring, slate tiles and other areas that sustain foot traffic, I'm hopeful that it provides a fairly durable finish for instruments (though my 16 y.o. son has already had a hard 'bash' at the first uke I used Hardwax Oil on and managed to dig his finger nails into the top below the strings, so a scratch plate would be the go there).

Am hoping others will chime in on this thread with their methodologies, as I think the product has great potential as an eco-friendly finish for instruments, especially for those of us without compressor & spray-booth setups.

Cheers

[vandenboom]

John - thanks for the level of detail. Very helpful. I already have 2 coats on, 24 hours apart. I didn't apply shellac first. I pore filled with zpoxy. And I did not rub down between coats 1/2, but will do so from now on.
Also, I nitro'd the top and headstock (to sink my decal) 6 weeks ago, so they are all done. So just applying the oil to back, sides and neck.
Frank