Process - Dying & Lacquer
The cautions expressed in countless
YouTube videos are well founded here.
Careful prep and wearing gloves are certainly ‘musts’.
You might also wonder, if you reviewed the post chronology, why so much time had passed between this and the previous blog post. Mostly this was in order to allow the lacquer (clear coat) ample drying time - 2 weeks seemed like the expected duration, and I essentially adhered to this. It was also given that I had little experience using dyes and preparing a surface for lacquer and polish.
Lots of planning finally brought me to the final step of a completed body before putting together all my assembled hardware. I sanded and dyed several pieces of scrap to get a sense of how deep/dark the dye was and how much it penetrated the wood. But first, on the filling the grain (ash, although a hard wood, has large open grain pores which will continue to 'drink' lacquer unless filled in beforehand).
Grain fill paste made with joint compound and black dye:
I actually did the grain fill twice before clearcoat as I was not convinced that the first fill was still there. Indeed, a few days after the lacquer there were roughly 15-18 pinhole dimples in the surface due to the lacquer getting sucked down into the grain. I attempted to fill these with "microdrops" of lacquer, but just made them look worse as I could never get them entirely sanded flat again after that. Oh, well, another thing I know is there but most would not see...
I used joint compound for grain filler, following a process which some have described elsewhere. So one unexpected aspect was difficulty dying the grain filler to a suitable color. The filler will be what is left only in the grain after it is sanded flat, so it is the grain color you wish to end up with that you want to dye the filler. I want the grain to really pop, so I went with black. Only my first layer turned out purple! Not quite as evident in the photos, but really purple. I later found that yellow added to purple will produce black, so I tried that and it did work to give a much deeper black. After it dries (a few hours), the filler is sanded off the top of the wood surface, leaving filler in the grain as you can see in the following two photos.
A scrap block was then used in trial and error fashion to figure out a combination of dyes to achieve my vision. I was aiming for an amber and grey burst effect. I got fleeting elements of this, but not entirely what I had planned on. Still, happy with the color, although the front of the body turned out differently from the back. You are able to have several tries at it, however, since you can sand after each dye layer to reveal lower layers. The dye appears to go on 'heavy' but it does not penetrate such hard wood very deep at all.
My vision also called for black edges and a 'burst' style. I applied sanding sealer to the body, and taped off the main front and back. I then applied primer to the sides before sanding with 600 grit for a smooth finish. This step does reveal any sort of blemish in the wood and it is not too late to try to fix these. If small (and under paint) some more primer or a bit of wood filler can help. So after the primer was dry and sanded I sprayed gloss black lacquer on the sides.
Then the burst pattern. I removed the taped off area and practiced a lot with spraying away from the body. There are several techniques you can find; I decided to spray it freehand and with no template cover. The back turned out perfectly first try. The front required some mods since the burst sprayed a little more heavily than I'd planned. Some fine '0' steel wool actually did a good job and rubbing back a little of the black.
Now finally on the the clear coat! Again, proper prep of the surface and the spray area, as well as warming the spray can first to help it flow more evenly. I also endeavored to use good technique = two light layers followed by heavier coats. And make passes from off the body, across the body and off the other side. The lacquer I used could be re-coated at any time, so I went through close to a can and a half to build up a thick layer.
You might also wonder, if you reviewed the post chronology, why so much time had passed between this and the previous blog post. Mostly this was in order to allow the lacquer (clear coat) ample drying time - 2 weeks seemed like the expected duration, and I essentially adhered to this. It was also given that I had little experience using dyes and preparing a surface for lacquer and polish.
Lots of planning finally brought me to the final step of a completed body before putting together all my assembled hardware. I sanded and dyed several pieces of scrap to get a sense of how deep/dark the dye was and how much it penetrated the wood. But first, on the filling the grain (ash, although a hard wood, has large open grain pores which will continue to 'drink' lacquer unless filled in beforehand).
Grain fill paste made with joint compound and black dye:
I actually did the grain fill twice before clearcoat as I was not convinced that the first fill was still there. Indeed, a few days after the lacquer there were roughly 15-18 pinhole dimples in the surface due to the lacquer getting sucked down into the grain. I attempted to fill these with "microdrops" of lacquer, but just made them look worse as I could never get them entirely sanded flat again after that. Oh, well, another thing I know is there but most would not see...
I used joint compound for grain filler, following a process which some have described elsewhere. So one unexpected aspect was difficulty dying the grain filler to a suitable color. The filler will be what is left only in the grain after it is sanded flat, so it is the grain color you wish to end up with that you want to dye the filler. I want the grain to really pop, so I went with black. Only my first layer turned out purple! Not quite as evident in the photos, but really purple. I later found that yellow added to purple will produce black, so I tried that and it did work to give a much deeper black. After it dries (a few hours), the filler is sanded off the top of the wood surface, leaving filler in the grain as you can see in the following two photos.
A scrap block was then used in trial and error fashion to figure out a combination of dyes to achieve my vision. I was aiming for an amber and grey burst effect. I got fleeting elements of this, but not entirely what I had planned on. Still, happy with the color, although the front of the body turned out differently from the back. You are able to have several tries at it, however, since you can sand after each dye layer to reveal lower layers. The dye appears to go on 'heavy' but it does not penetrate such hard wood very deep at all.
 |
| scrap trial and error |
 |
| a point in the dye process not far from the ending point |
Now finally on the the clear coat! Again, proper prep of the surface and the spray area, as well as warming the spray can first to help it flow more evenly. I also endeavored to use good technique = two light layers followed by heavier coats. And make passes from off the body, across the body and off the other side. The lacquer I used could be re-coated at any time, so I went through close to a can and a half to build up a thick layer.
The body was then held up to dry - it was dry to the touch in 30 min. And dry enough to handle in 24 hrs. When the smell of lacquer is gone (about 2 weeks) it is dry enough to sand. So the photo below demonstrates my starting point on getting to 'mirror finish', starting with the dry clear lacquer. The goal is to sand down any bumps ('orange peel') for a completely flat surface that will take and hold a shine.
wet sanding 1500 grit resulted in the following:
wet sanding with 2000 grit - careful not to let any open wood sections (drilled holes, cavities, pockets) to get wet as the wood will swell and crack the lacquer layer. also care with edges which can sand through quickly.
after rubbing compound:
after polishing compound:
wax polish as the final step:
The differences are quite noticeable. At the same time, I'd been hoping for a much more dramatic 'wet look' finish that would last and last. The above photo shows a fairly good finish, although I was a little disappointed to find that after several days it seemed to lose its gloss. I will take another crack at it later..........
wet sanding 1500 grit resulted in the following:
wet sanding with 2000 grit - careful not to let any open wood sections (drilled holes, cavities, pockets) to get wet as the wood will swell and crack the lacquer layer. also care with edges which can sand through quickly.
after rubbing compound:
after polishing compound:
wax polish as the final step:
I also found that the lacquer layer chips easily. There are a few spots where hardware was bolted on (the neck plate for example) where a small section has chipped.
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