Finishing

I mostly french polish my guitars, but recently I’ve been experimenting with a wax and oil finish.

I have spent quite a few months experimenting with different waxs and oils to find the correct mixture that suits the look and feel I’m trying to achieve. I have settled on a blend of bees wax, carnauba wax, linseed oil, walnut oil, calcium carbonate and diatomaceous earth.

First is a very light coat of epoxy, more of a sealer coat really. This is very important because it adds a lot of strength and longevity to the finish. I’m using ecopoxy because its very hard and totally transparent.

I really want the most transparent coloured finish I can get, so the bees wax I use has been refined to remove all the colour from it and I wash the oils to remove as much of the colour as possible.

The bees wax gives a nice mat appearance and feels silky to touch, but its not particularly strong so I have blended it with carnauba wax to increase the strength.

Linseed oil dries to a really hard finish, but it is quite a thick oil and difficult to apply, so I blended it with walut oil for its viscosity and lighter colour.

Calcium carbonate and diatomaceous earth are used as a cutting compond to help work the finish into the sealer coat of epoxy.

The result is a thin and light finish that feels smooth to touch, is mat in appearance and leaves the wood almost the same colour as before it was finished. I tried many different products in my search for a finish I was happy with and I now feel the time and energy I invested really paid off