Two mandolins

Very elegant looking instruments!

Keith

I agree, they look gorgeous!

Both mandolins look marvellous...I love the natural , understated look . Did you make the tailpieces yourself?

The Osmo Experience
So I'll describe  a little about the finishing work. As I said in a previous post, I planned to use Liberon finishing oil, as in my previous projects, but the oil had dried in the can. So I decided to use Osmo Hard wax oil instead. I think it's the same oil that is sold as PolyX in the UK.
First of all - the Osmo oil is a lot thicker than the Liberon oil. You're supposed to brush a lot of the oil with a brush or a special sponge, let it soak for a while and than white off the excess. I didn't do it that way. First of all I sealed the wood with two layers of schellack. Than I applied the oil with a lint free cotton cloth and immediately tried to wipe off the excess. Nevertheless it only took me 4 layers before it seemed like the finish was this enough. That's less than with the Liberon oil and due to the thickness.  I let it dry 10 - 24 hours between the layers and used 0000 steel wool between every layer. After the forth layer the oil was glossy. After a few days I attempted to polish the oil with Micro-Mesh pads. Unfortunately I started with the coarser pads, and soon I had sanded through most of the finish. I'm glad I only tried on one of the necks, as I had to go through the process of applying oil once again. After a few days of hardening, I started with the Micro-Mesh pads again, but this time I only used the three finest pads 8000, 10000, 12000 grit). The end result was astonishingly similar to the lLiberon oil. The surface was satin, not glossy, but very tactile to look at and hold. So over all I'm quite content with the result compared to my earlier experiences with Liberon oil. 
But that doesn't mean I'm altogether content and happy. On the contrary, I've never been fully satisfied with the result of my oil finishes (although I've improved from instrument to instrument)'. The way to go, I think, is the method that Francis describes in his thread "A parlour for me er, I mean for Andrew" and that was originally developed by luthier Kevin Aram. The difference lies mainly in the preparation of the wood surface where you apply the micro-mesh pads (all the way up to 12 000 grit) to the wood BEFORE applying any oil. I believe this makes a greater difference than if you choose Liberon, Osmo or Tru oil. In my next project I'll try to apply that method, but I'm not certain which oil I'll use. I don't have access to the article by Kevin Aram  that Francis refer to, but I've found a pdf by Stewart Adamson, that I think describes the same method and I'll follow those instructions. 

Hi Lars, I've been struggling with the Liberon Finishing Oil on WR Cedar on Andrews guitar. I did some tests on offcuts from the same WRC board as the soundboard but I'm finding the Liberon to be very patchy. I've applied 7 coats at present but it's still not right. I took the WRC down to 6000 micro mesh in it's bare state. Then applied the LFO with a soft lint free cotton cloth folded to form a pad. Initially in a circular motion rubbing all the time whilst the oil soaked in and began to dry on the surface. Then applied a second coat wiping in line with the grain and left to dry overnight. Once dry I cut back with 0000 steel wool but that (to me) seemed to be the start of the problems. The steel wool was new (also a Liberon product), It came wrapped in square cardboard tube and I uncurled a length of the steel wool (circa 15 cm), wound that into a pad and rubbed with the grain to cut back the finish. I wiped and hovered the surface to get rid of the wool fragments and applied a further coat of LFO, left 24hrs and cut back again and applied a third coat. That's when the patchiness became evident. My initial thought was that I'd applied either an uneven coat of LFO or that I'd applied un even pressure with the steel wool when cutting back and that I'd unwittingly cut right through the finish and opened the WRC's bare timber again.
So. Tried again with extra care adding two further coats. No joy. At this point I contacted Colin who kindly gave me his take on LFO application. The major difference being the application of shellac prior to starting to apply oil.

At this point I'm about to cut back the oil I have applied and try to start again this time sealing with one or two coats of French polish/shellac...

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles, Colin. And thank you very much for sharing! I really hope it will turn out well.