re-finish over Danish oil?

[bernm]

I have a question about re-finishing a guitar.

A couple of years ago I built a guitar through one of the lutherie 'schools' here in Australia. The finish taught there was Danish oil, basically an oil and wax finish. It looked good initially.

Now, a couple of years on I have recently moved from the central west which is very dry to the south of Sydney with much higher humidity. Let's just say that the guitar hasn't adjusted to the change of climate as much as I'd like. In addition to needing a setup, many of the joins are no longer smooth but 'raised'. I also have a minor but very much repairable crack in the side, which is not due to the move, but which I want to attend to as well.

So in light of all of the above, I'm thinking that if I'm repairing the crack anyway and the thing now no longer feels smooth where timbers join, maybe the best option would be to sand the whole thing back and re-finish it (Danish oil again, I guess)?

I have two questions actually:

Any comments on whether this is the best way forward?

If I sand it back, do I have to sand it back 'entirely', i.e. no trace of the original Danish oil, before I start oiling again? Is there a risk in that case of sanding too thin?


Many thanks
Bern

[Nick]

My experience with Danish Oil has been that it's fairly forgiving to future 'touch ups' I would say you are fairly safe to just rub back where you've repaired or levelled & 'spot' finish with the Danish Oil. It may look abit dark or different when you first put it on but once it's soaked in and had a few recoats it should be an invisible repair, it's a spirit based finish so will 'melt' into the old finish as you apply the fresh stufff. If you are at all worried, because it is a spirit based finish you could rub a little bit of mineral turps over the instrument & then re-apply oil to the whole guitar.
This taken from the Briwax site:
"Unlike most other wood finishes, you can restore the finish at any stage in its life by wiping down with mineral turpentine, and applying another coat of oil."

[Allen]

What Nick said.