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I am considering truoil with zpoxy grain filler, shellac between the zpoxy and truoil. An comments or thoughts on this approach.

Thanks
Dave
djmrozinski@chartermi.net

Dave,

I just converted a french polish over z-poxy neck to a tru-oil neck. It went very well according to my customer. Go for it.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

That's my standard finish. Works well.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

I've had problems with Tru-Oil directly over Z-Poxy on necks. These were necks where the last step was leaving a dilute covering of Z-Poxy on the wood to even the color. Started out nice but got fuzzy after a month or so. If the Z-Poxy was sanded back to the pores it was not as bad but still happened a little. There was a previous thread on this in the last year or two. Others had had the same problem and it was attributed to something leaching out of the Z-Poxy and reacting with the Tru-Oil as I recall. Personally I'd use another grain filler if I was using Tru-oil on a neck.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

What is "sufficient curing time" I really like the idea of tru-oil so I want to avoid the pitfalls.

Thanks for the comments.
Dave

The curing problems of epoxy can occur for many reasons, of course, like poor mixing of the components, old chemicals, insufficient time to "set up," cold temperatures, etc.

I think that I have heard that you can use tru-oil for its own pore filler, it will take longer and more coats, but should not be a problem if you want to avoid epoxy and eliminate compatibility concerns.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Concur with Terence but may work with shellac barrier. Nasty without,awful mess, others may have had better luck.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

The 'fuzz' problem with Truoil, a finish which relies upon the polymerization of natural driers for it to cure, being placed over epoxy, a product which relies upon a chemical exchange that in most cases is triggered by amino acids, has nothing whatsoever to do with cure time.

If you are having problems it is most likely that 'epoxy amine blush' is the cause. This blush is a byproduct of the amine curing process of epoxy and occurs to a varying degree in the presents of carbon dioxide and moisture in the air. It results in a thin, almost invisible, oily substance rising to the surface of the curing epoxy. Sanding will not remove this oil, rather it will just spread it across the surface so it should be washed from the surface 'prior' to the use of abrasives.

If this amine excretion is present, and it can take a good eye to detect it, and it is not removed, it will retard or even reverse the polymerisation process of all oil based finishes causing them to go fuzzy like miniature blisters or soft and tacky and shellac probably won't help in the long term.

Don't take my word for it, Google............ "Epoxy Amine Blush"

Cheers

Kim