Doug Shepard
04-16-2005, 3:03 PM
I'm blown away by the finish on the attached pics and thought I'd share these. I'm leaning heavily towards using this stuff on a maple/mesquite jewelry box project. I ran across this on an instrument makers forum. The thread there is extremely long so I thought I'd summarize the application info and lift the pics. The thread never mentioned what wood the guitar is made of but I'm pretty sure it's rosewood. What really got me was the clarity, depth, and mirror finish while still not looking plasticky. Check out the reflection of the pack of strings against the guitar back below.
Anyway the application details are:
Two applications of System3 Epoxy as a pore filler
Ten coats of KTM-9 sprayed
Sanded to 8000 with micromesh then buffed with polishing compound then swirl remover.
KTM-9 is a waterbased finish apparently intended to compete with nitro lacquer. I googled about and found the manufacturers page which is a pretty informative site.
http://www.graftedcoatings.com/wood_clear_ktm9.asp?iid=25
They also have a users forum that has a lot of good info. There are a few negative posts there, but the majority seem to be satisfied users.
http://ktmfinishes.proboards7.com/index.cgi?board=ktm9
And this page from a guitar maker using the stuff has a pretty thorough writeup on his application method - a lot of steps, and details, but his results look worth it if you click to his home page link at the bottom.
http://www.doolinguitars.com/waterborne/instructions.html
The only hesitation I'm having is wondering if the look is going to translate well to general woodworking finishing. Instrument finishing seems to be an art in itself and things done in that arena might not translate well to other applications? I'm just curious what folks here think as far as it's use for woodworking projects.
Anyway the application details are:
Two applications of System3 Epoxy as a pore filler
Ten coats of KTM-9 sprayed
Sanded to 8000 with micromesh then buffed with polishing compound then swirl remover.
KTM-9 is a waterbased finish apparently intended to compete with nitro lacquer. I googled about and found the manufacturers page which is a pretty informative site.
http://www.graftedcoatings.com/wood_clear_ktm9.asp?iid=25
They also have a users forum that has a lot of good info. There are a few negative posts there, but the majority seem to be satisfied users.
http://ktmfinishes.proboards7.com/index.cgi?board=ktm9
And this page from a guitar maker using the stuff has a pretty thorough writeup on his application method - a lot of steps, and details, but his results look worth it if you click to his home page link at the bottom.
http://www.doolinguitars.com/waterborne/instructions.html
The only hesitation I'm having is wondering if the look is going to translate well to general woodworking finishing. Instrument finishing seems to be an art in itself and things done in that arena might not translate well to other applications? I'm just curious what folks here think as far as it's use for woodworking projects.