Well as a cabinet maker I have very little experience with either one because pre cat lacquer is what we use. But being that you removed the paste wax becuase you did not like the result tells me to stick with your original method. In other words, if it aint broke dont fix it. The one time I used paste wax was way back in high school but it was done on a lathe. The 34 year old lamp still looks nice to this day.

Hope this makes sense.

Jeff C

The type of wax makes a huge difference as well.

Perhaps you should look into "French polishing" as I think that is what you have in mind...

Butcher's wax is the stuff if you want wax. Note the wood has to be polished to a very shiny surface first- therefore it works much better on sugar maple than north American mahogany. Polish the wood to 1000 grit so the pores are closed off (and it has a shine to it) like a pool cue shaft. The "mess" you saw was either the white wax in the pores of the wood, or, if you used a typical car paste wax, it was the wax solvents breaking down the tung oil and making mud. Note many car paste waxes have silicone in them and that really makes a mess with most natural materials...

If you are waxing; just wax. If you want oil; just oil. I have done both but prefer either tung oil or a proper hard sprayed finish (in either gloss or semi-gloss). I never sold a guitar with a wax finish (other than a fretless bass fingerboard) because it is too difficult to make perfect for me to put my name on it.

Jeff- Thanks, that's kind of what I am thinking. The only reason I am still curious is because I'm convinced I did something wrong. I have read everything I can find about it on the internet and some people are saying that they have had amazing results with the tung oil and paste wax combo.

J!m- I'm not looking for a gloss finish. I have worked with lacquer on guitars and am familiar with how to create the high shine, but I am looking for the deep look that you can get with oil. I know that the combination I am using works because I have heard and read of people doing it and it also says it on the paste wax label. I just am not having any luck with it. I'm sure I'll get over it :)

Thanks guys!

I do some woodturning (when I get a chance), Paste wax needs to be spun on a lathe for best results IMO ... (too)

Cheers

Well, if you want a deep, low-gloss look here is what I would do (and have done) to get that look.

First, if the wood stains evenly, stain it lightly.

Then seal, sand and apply one wet double coat of clear.

Let that set, and tint up some clear with the stain, to get a transparent color.

Apply that in light dusty coats until you get the desired depth of color.

Apply three wet double coats of clear with de-glosser in it (test finish ahead of time for proper gloss level).

let dry well, block and buff.

The stain in the wood, coupled with the tinted clear, gives that super-deep 3-D look to the finish. it is particularly brilliant on flame maple, where it literally dances in the light. We did a strat body that was mahogany with a flame top and we tinted the top with a purple in the manner described above (but high-gloss in that case) and it looked quite impressive.

I don't think you could get the same look with oil and wax. The clarity of the wax is generally not enough to allow it, and I would be leery about mixing wax and oil on the same surface- it sounds like it would be sticky for weeks and never properly harden and also be very cloudy.

I'm sure you will find a solution that works for you. Good luck with the project!

Hey J!m-

That sounds awesome! I have experimented a little with some of the steps you mentioned, but haven't ever tried what you laid out. I'm too far into this project to go that route now, but I have been known to find projects just to try out a new finishing method :)

Thanks for the input, I will use this as a reference in the future, I'm sure.

As always- try on a scrap first.

I have a very black Montineri shell that was supposed to be the mate to my cobalt blue snare. I stained the maple and tinted the clear, but you'd have to be pretty damn close to the sun itself to realize that is a transparent finish on there. Black in particular is very difficult to get 'black' (rather than brownish-gray) and still be able to make out some grain in there. I re-did that drum several times and finally just tossed the shell in the pile in the back of the shop... I retrieved it a few years ago when I was collecting the last of the equipment and some of the wood pile.

I can happen with any color, so always test to get the 'formula' just right!

For drums, look into Behlen products- they make a nice nitro lacquer as well as the universal stains that can be mixed to get unique colors etc. Solar lux was the liquid (actually what we used for the purple example above) but I preferred the paste stuff I think it was called mastercolor or something like that. A drop the size of an aspirin could make a dark stain in about a pint of clear. Add more color and it became opaque. Less, ad it is more transparent. I got pretty good with it after a while and had a few stains I made up to match original '63 strat sunburst colors. It takes a lot of patience to get those tints just right!

Jim if you don't mind me asking what would make tinted clear (drop of yellow in clear) turn green? I was trying to tint a tom of mine to match aged yellow WMP over a opaque white stain. And instead it turned green. I thought color contamination in the gun itself but was spiffy clean and only used to shoot clears. This was at my sons shop so I didn't really have the time to futz around as he had guitars to get color on. The outer ply of the tom is maple. Sorry for the OT question.

I don't have an answer for that one....

I assume the clear and color tint are compatible, and if so, this obviously shouldn't happen! If you put yellow in, it should stay yellow!

Or am I misunderstanding you- you put yellow into clear, (and the result was a yellow tint) but when applied over another finish (compatible finish??) the final color changed?

One idea is, even if it is a compatible finish, most, if not all, whites have blue in them. This makes them look 'whiter'. If you've had fresh snow on a "white" car, you can see the blue in the paint. It is possible the yellow over the blue tinted white made a green shade.

If you shoot straight clear over the white to 'lock it in' before applying a tinted clear, you may have better luck, and if not, an easier time removing it. Also, the final finish needs to be straight clear so that you can block and buff it without blowing through to the tinted clear and making your tint 'blotchy' because you made some areas thinner than others.

If the paints are not compatible, all bets are off. Color shift is a very real possibility in this case.

"ALWAYS TEST"! I can't offer better advice that that!

I hope that helps somewhat!