I've made a guitar stand from mahogany. It is patterned after the Zither Music Company's stands they make for Gibson, Taylor, and other brands. It looks like this:
stand with acoustic.png ASTDMG-large.jpg view 1.jpg view 2.jpg view with Gibson.jpg
It came out really nice. 42 inches high; base is 12"/9" x 14.5" trapezoid. I've hand sanded it down to 320 grit and it seems ready for finishing. But I'm out of my depth here. I've only used shellac on a maple bunkbed and "Tung Oil Finish" (Minwax brand of whatever that stuff is) on my hand-plane rack and a little spokeshave rack, but the truth is that I have no finishing chops. I suppose I ought to have been paying more attention to finishing techniques through the years.
I want to be able to feel the wood in my hand when I pick up the stand, so I do not want a hard lacquer finish (the guitar has a gorgeous new nitrocellulose gloss so I want the stand to sit back in the light) –– more like a satin sheen that looks deep into the grain, without darkening the wood. I do NOT want to wait days between coats. I'm willingly to wax when the oil coats are all on and cured. I don't consider this stand a piece of fine furniture. More like a lovingly made tool rack, which, in a way, it is.
I need to start from Square One. What is my best option? From my reading,
- pure tung oil or pure linseed oil seem out of the question due to curing time
- pure tung or pure BLO cut with mineral spirits seems fussy
- the "Finish" brands are cut with this and that and don't really have much of the pure oil species
After "what to use" is "how to apply." I guess that depends on how thin the chosen finish is.
As you finishing experts can clearly see, I need more than a quick tip. I've started with YouTube videos and maybe I'll learn enough to choose a product and move ahead. In the meantime, does anyone have any suggestions that will help me kick this off?