finishing Basswood with Danish Oil

[brian mastro]

I googled a little but I didn't find anyone with my issue here ...

I am currently applying Danish Oil to a Basswood body and it's just drinking it in, like after 8 coats it still looks grainy, unlike the maple neck after 3 coats it looked almost ready to go. I didn't fill grain because someone said "what grain?" in relation to basswood. has any one else experienced anything like this? I'm worried I'll run out of danish oil before I finish this and I haven't found a store around here that sells it since woodcraft closed. (if I do run out I have some water based lacquer that I think won't work well on an oil based finish, correct??)

[Paul Verticchio]

Unsealed Basswood is like a sponge for finishes.  You definitely used the improper finish.   The wood will have to be completely saturated before the absorption starts.  That's not recommended.

The already absorbed oil may, most likely, cause problems if you shoot lacquer over it. 

We learn from experiences such as this (:

Best of luck (-:

[Ned Knepp]

If you run out of Danish Oil you should be able to order it on line through the WoodCraft web site.  

I haven't worked with Danish oil for a while but I seem to remember that it is designed to "penetrate" .  Basswood will soak up a lot of it before it ever gets a gloss, if it ever does.  If I were you, I would do some experiments with some scrap to see if it is possible to lay any other finish over the Danish Oil. Maybe try wiping it down with thinner before you put on another finish. I would start with shellac  just to see if it will stick. If it does you should be able to put what ever you want over the top of that.