Doing Things Wrong

Red-on-Red Burst

I smoothed down the brushed poly on this body and was dissatisfied with the result. The shape, with binding and German carve, is rather complex to sand, and the brushed-on finish required an excessive amount of sanding. The foam brush made no difference. Another bad idea from talk_ass, which is an endless spring of bad ideas. I will never again try to brush on a finish - there is no reason, I have excellent spray facilities.

So I made a mix of equal parts stain and poly, masked off the binding, and shot the sides opaque red, feathering into the center, where the grain is still visible. When this is dry, I'll do the same around the front.


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This is a half-round bastard file from Home Depot. Half-rounds have the most aggressive teeth of any file, on both sides, but not as dangerous as rasps. Mine see as much use as all the others put together - they are terrific on wood. I have no problem sanding out the marks from the file. The last couple of necks here were done a lot more with the half-round than the Japanese files. These come in 6, 9, and 12-inch sizes; all are useful.

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