MIMF

Hi,
I'm finishing with tru oil an unfinished maple neck and after two coat i find a rough spot, just at the base of the headstock (rear side of the neck).
I will feel it when i'll play, it's pretty sure.
Before to apply tru oil, i sanded all the neck with 400 grit but i'm affraid that i didn't do it well at the place where i feel the roug spot.
What i'm supposed to do? should I sand everything and start again or with sanding and tru oil I can retrace this error.
Thank you for your answers and your help.

Sand and reapply. Two coats is not near enough.

Check it out under a good light and find out why it feel rough. With only just two coats of Tru oil, you shouldn’t have a problem just addressing the offending spot.

And keep applying the tru-oil. I stopped at 10 coats on the last one including sanding on some problem spots where courser sanding showed up (at about 2 coats). I liked the results.

hi,
I just went through a shot of steel wool 0000 and the sensation of roughness is gone.
It may have finally happened when I wiped out the excess of tru oil during the last coat.
Otherwise, I reassure everyone, I did not have the intension to stop at 2 layers. At least 4. I will evaluate at this moment.
Thanks everyone for your advices.

Jean, Tru-Oil is a different kind of finish. Less than 10 coats is more of an oil-rubbed surface where you get little build on the surface. If you want a surface build and any kind of sheen you will probably have to build up more than 10 coats, depending on the porosity of the wood.

Just for future reference. Always dampen the neck or any wood you intend to finish after your "final" sanding as you will discover how much you missed when the grain is raised and dried again. I do this two or three times to really make sure all the grain is out because it will just raise under your finish later on if you don't, especially under an oil finish that can't begin to block moisture. It takes 30 coats of linseed oil (think tru-oil) to get the same moisture resistance as a single coat of polyurethane varnish. It take three coats of polyurethane to block moisture completely once the grain is filled.

David King wrote:Just for future reference. Always dampen the neck or any wood you intend to finish after your "final" sanding as you will discover how much you missed when the grain is raised and dried again. I do this two or three times to really make sure all the grain is out because it will just raise under your finish later on if you don't, especially under an oil finish that can't begin to block moisture. It takes 30 coats of linseed oil (think tru-oil) to get the same moisture resistance as a single coat of polyurethane varnish. It take three coats of polyurethane to block moisture completely once the grain is filled.

Nice tip!

I had to chime in on this about the Tru-Oil, as I've used it on almost every neck I've ever made.

Personally I like the feel best with only 2-3 coats. Here's my process:

Sand neck as fine as possible, I often go up to 800 or 1000 then gray scotch brite pads.

First Tru-Oil coat is quite heavy, really get it in there to bring out the grain and figure, but wipe/buff of excess with a nice lint free cotton pad.

Once that dries for about a day, 2nd and 3rd coats are very light, rubbed on fast in almost a french polish type fashion.

I'm sure it depends on the wood, but this works great on anything I've used.