What finish to use:

[Pat.Hawkins]

Hi Folks,
Getting close to completing my first build (it's now fret time) and starting to wonder about the finish.

As a beginner, Danish oil sounds easy - but I wonder about oil filling up that soundboard?
Does it have an effect?

Should I have a go at some spray system?

It's tiger myrtle back and sides, king billy top with a tas oak neck.

Cheers

[DarwinStrings]

Hey Pat, if you consider spraying in the future maybe you could just do a bit of practice on some open pored ply now, you end up buying 4 litres of paint (only way I can buy it anyway). Prep the ply the way you would prep a guitar and see if you feel up to shooting the guitar. There is a great tute in the tute section on pre-cat lacquer written by Allen.

Jim

[lauburu]

I'd love to be able to spray my ukes to a high gloss finish but a lack of skill, equipment and space makes that impossible. I find that many thin coats of Tru-oil provide a pleasing finish, requires little skill, no new equipment and minimal space. Tru-oil is available at gun shops and there are dozens of tutorials on You-Tube.
Miguel

[Allen]

The finish we teach in the uke class's now is brushing on shellac. Something that anyone can do at home.

Depending on the amount of work you want to put into it as far as pore filling and number of coats with sanding back etc. you can get a really outstanding finish.

If you really want to get fancy, after you've built up the finish a bit you can then switch to a rubber and go into the French Polishing technique.

[Woodsy23]

I have just completed my first acoustic build and I finished it using Liberon Finishing Oil, which I understand is a similar type of finish to Tru-oil and danish oil. I don't think it "filled up the sound board". I don't think it penetrates significantly more than other finishes but I am certainly no expert. For grain filling the blackwood back and sides and the mahogany neck, I wet sanded with the finishing oil to create a slurry of sawdust and oil. It worked really well.