Applying Tru-oil over the current finish ??

Yeah it's very gummy especially after it's been in the air for a minute or two. I haven't tried sanding with tru oil, I could be wrong but I have a hard time imagining it being easy.

The pictures sometimes dont show the blemish, and other times they show things I can't see with human eye. Overall all it looks good, better than the original, that's what's important.

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Yup tru oil can be a real pain in the ass, it dries too quick and is really unforgiving if you make a mistake. I stopped using it all together in favor of boiled lindseed oil and beeswax.

Paint thinner especially turpentine or alcohol will remove any blemishes with a little wet sanding.

As claven said it also gets better with more coats. I found using a rag difficult because it was so tacky and I wanted an even surface. I ended up using a paint brush believe it or not. I believe I used the foam ones.
 
I wet sanded yesterday morning using tru oil as the lubricant, it actually worked well and smoothed out places where the wool wasn't having effect, I used my finger to dab some oil into 1000 grit paper and went over the whole thing gently, than wiped everything off after.

I can still see some remnants of my previous mistakes but not a big deal, also the color match is not great but I can live with it. I realize now my mistake was trying to apply the oil with latex gloves, they stick and drag and you can't feel what you are doing, with a bare finger I can feel the spots that are too wet or dry and get a more even coat. Here is a picture after the wet sanding coat dried

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And here is this morning after steel wool. As it is right now I've been taking quite a bit off every coat with the abrasive afterwards, trying to fix my mistakes and such -as my oil application improves I'm hoping to be able to leave more finish on the wood with every coat.

Steel wool'ed and ready for another coat

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All the steel wool is meant to do is knock back the shine a bit and roughen the surface slightly in prep for the next coat. What grade steel wool are you using?
 
Super fine, depending on how the last coat went I'm increasing or decreasing my aggressiveness with it..
 
I should add that I'm using this strategy because it seems to be working, I've learned this is the kind of skill it's very hard to describe, you'd probably understand if you were here why I'm taking so much off with the treatment between coats. It's hard to show the imperfections with the camera but with my eye I can see what's working and what's not. Just trying now to think through every step and do more of what works and less of what doesn't.

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Once you get a bit of thickness to the finish you could knock it down with fine sandpaper and then build it up again to a very smooth finish. It looks like you're improving as you go, and yes, I apply the tru oil with bare hands, I only use gloves to apply stain.
 
I've done a few Tru Oil finishes, my last one here: http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1260584-Ruger-44-Carbine-Refinish

Post 24 in that thread describes how I applied it. Always used my fingers, coats got thinner as I went higher in numbers, and I wet sanded with water in between coats after the 4th coat. I didn't worry too much about any imperfections as I knew I would knock them down on my final coats by lots of slow sanding using 2000 grit. I find with Tru Oil, you need to work fast as you don;t want to start rubbing on the oil that is starting to dry or it clumps it.
 
Okay thanks for the input, after 10 or so coats now I was starting to get discouraged at how bumpy it looked after a fresh coat. I think I've realized I wasn't tacking enough off after the steel wool and fibres were ending up in my coat, either that or dust from the environment is floating around and catching on it while it's tacky (I'm going to remove the fan for a period, see if that improves) I sanded again tonight with tru oil and 1500 grit, and then wiped as much of as I could,leaving my thinnest coat yet, I just had a look at it after about two hours, it's looking more "flat" than before, it doesn't quite look "finished" yet. I'm thinking at least few more of these very light coats, I might repeat the light scuffing with the wet 1500 grit depending on outcomes. At some point I guess I'll need to think about switching to a wax or polish and calling it a day. This project was fun and I learned a lot of stuff, but I will admit I'm getting a bit tired of it :)


Also, yes I do worry what tru-oil will do to my finger, but I figured after the irreparable damage I've probably already done to my lungs, why not throw caution to the wind!
 
I apply Tru Oil with my hands too. I'm seventy two years old. What's it going to do , kill me? I've made it this far in life doing far more dangerous things. I was even married once.
 
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