Quote:
Originally Posted by rck281
I never could get Tru Oil to dry on a pair of rosewood grips I was making from a blank. I finally stripped off the Tru Oil and wiped the wood surface with paint thinner to get rid of the surface oil. After reapplying the TruOil, it dryed in a short time. I really don't know much about wood refinishing, so not sure this is a really good thing to do. It just worked for me on the one pair of rosewood grips.
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Rosewood and Cocobolo are problematic for taking top coat finishes period, as are other tropical woods.
As mentioned previously, they are naturally oily and will prohibit most finishes from setting up. You either have to put on a barrier coat of Shellac or Lacquer or degrease the surface with acetone and then quickly apply the finish.
I don't use an oil finish on the those woods, I prefer to wax them after polishing out the wood on a soft buffing wheel at a medium/low speed.
The rule of thumb for any Linseed based oil finish is you can't be in a hurry. I've had a set of grips take 3 weeks for the oil to fully harden, heat lamp and all... seems like the stuff will dry/harden only when it's good and ready.
Adding a few drops of Japan Drier does improve matters, it's also helpful to thin out the Tru-oil just a bit so it is easier to put on thin coats, which is the key, applying a thin coat after the previous one has dried completely.
You keep adding coats until you get the depth of finish that you want.
It's time consuming as all get out, but that is just the nature of a Linseed based oil.
A finish that I just tried out on a laminated rifle stock and a set of old style Herrett grips I'm refinishing is Minwax Wipe-On Poly.
It is a really thinned out mixture containing Polyurethane that is applied the same way as wipe on oil finish.
Polyurethane requires moisture in the air to cure, so it's great for areas with humidity.
I'm still making my mind up how I like it, it's only available in gloss or satin and I wish there was a middle of the road semi-gloss available.