Someone asked me recently about what I use to protect the finish of my saws (and by proxy other tools, both hand and machine tools). The answer is straight forward, though perhaps not as simple as I initially thought… I use paste wax to help protect them from rust and also to reduce friction in their use. I also use paste wax on some of the furniture I make and restore also. I have often sensed a bit of confusion on using waxes, what they are and how they work, in conversations I've had with others. Some revile it – likely because of a bad reaction with a finish of some sort or perhaps in some cases because of unrealistic expectations.
With enough lacquer applied and enough time for it all to dry sufficiently (at least 3 weeks), it's time to finally buff out the finishes on the guitar bodies.
One small problem I had - no buffer. It can be done by hand, sanding using finer and finer grits until you reach a point where you can use a polishing wheel, like perhaps a lambs' wool bonnet or foam pad for my DA. The process is fairly labor intensive, but certainly doable. I had another idea...
Applying nitrocellulose lacquer is a test of patience. It's a slow process to do right - but in it's defense, it's got to be just about the easiest spray finish to learn with.
Nitrocellulose lacquer for the most part has been replaced with more modern finishes including enamels, polyurethanes, water-based finishes, and of course - acrylic lacquers.
The guitar build continues... Now that I've got all the mistakes fixed (at least to this point!), I can do the final shaping of the two bodies (the third has binding, and won't require any shaping).
The first part is pretty straight forward - using a router to round over the edges. The only real thing to watch for is how close you get to the neck pocket on the top - I stopped about 1/4" to 1/2" short of the neck pocket, and finished that part by hand.
The next entry in the guitar build is here! What's that you say? Why am I so slow?? I just am, so get used to it!
In the last entry I drilled the majority of the holes in the body that are needed. This time, I'm going to go over a couple of fixes for some tear out from the router.
After last week's rounding of the neck and fingerboard radiusing, this edition of the guitar build will focus on installing the frets into the neck, along with a little finish work. The necks at this stage are shaped and sanded, but not finish sanded yet.
I'm getting a little ahead, truth is there is one little area of shaping left to do. When the fingerboard is radiused, the transition between the headstock is affected and looks a little off to me.
Unless you are some sort of savant, the only way you can get good at doing anything is to practice. Once you have practiced just about anything enough, you will get pretty good at it... You might not ever be a Rembrandt, but usually passable.
Once you have acquired the skill, it doesn't stay with you, you have to maintain it as well. What does that mean? Why, more practice, of course. The more, the better. But do you ever have one of those days? You know the kind I'm talking about...
This is a quick compilation of everything I've learned about doing hammer veneering, both from the radio cabinet project, research, and my previous experiences with veneering and hide glue. Pictures are ones I've compiled from different projects (mostly the radio cabinet piece) to show what I'm yammering on about, so it's not quite like following a project. I've not done copious amounts of veneering, but I've done some over the years and have researched it quite a bit - so here's everything I know in one place (this should be short!).
Hammer veneering with hide glue, though considered daunting by many, is actually pretty easy. It's really just a matter of preparation... The procedure I found that seems to works best for me is a traditional method...
Someone asked me recently about what I use to protect the finish of my saws (and by proxy other tools, both hand and machine tools). The answer is straight forward, though perhaps not as simple as I initially thought… I use paste wax to help protect them from rust and also to reduce friction in their use. I also use paste wax on some of the furniture I make and restore also. I have often sensed a bit of confusion on using waxes, what they are and how they work, in conversations I've had with others. Some revile it – likely because of a bad reaction with a finish of some sort or perhaps in some cases because of unrealistic expectations.
The 
After last week's
