Water slide decal

[LITTLEWING]

Going to put my first ever water slide decal on a headstock. I've sanded the old name off down to bare wood and stained it back to near original colour. Once the decal is on and dry, what's best to use to seal it? Brush varnish, spray lacquer, water based stuff?

[discreet]

You really need to apply the decal to a sealed, lacquered surface. Applying it to stained wood will invite tits-uppery. What you use to seal it depends on what has already been used to lacquer the headstock. If it's poly, seal it with poly, if nitro, nitro, etc. I'd give the decal a couple of very light coats of lacquer before you apply it, this helps to conceal the edges.

Have a look on Google/YouTube, there is a multitude of info.

[Grangur]

To my shame I've done a few decals.

I've always done it on bear wood and not had any problems.

First you need to find out if the decal has been lacquered before you start. Waterside material, if not lacquered, will totally disintegrate in water. So, ask the question of the supplier if they don't make this clear in the instructions.

When you soak the decal, don't be in a rush to get it out of the water too quick. You need to get it so the decal slides very readily off the backing. Then wet the headstock and slide the decal into place and gently dab the water away. Don't mess about with it. Get it in the position. Smooth out any bubbles and get the water off and let it dry.

If you rush it too much and don't have the decal soaked enough, when it's dry and you're applying lacquer to the headstock, you'll almost certainly find the decal has a milky look.

When it's dry, spray it with a few coats of clear lacquer. When it's had a few coats and dry, get some fine wet & dry paper and sand the edges of the decal to remove the ridge. Then, when dry again, spray it some more.

[LITTLEWING]

Cheers, G. First time's always full of nerves. 

[BrunoBass]

I put down a few coats of nitro, and once dry sand very lightly until it feels smooth. Apply the waterslide decal, which I cut very carefully as close the print as possible, keeping the cuts as rounded as possible. When the decal is totally dry and set (a few hours is best) I put another fine layer of nitro over it and the edges of the decal disappear. The photo below is a decal applied exactly as described above, with no sanding necessary.

I’ve done the above process with poly and acrylic too, and I found that the edges of the decal don’t disappear completely, there is still a faint but noticeable edge, which as @Grangur says above will need to be sanded away. It’s as if the nitro melts the decal edges, but I don’t know if that is genuinely the case.

Edited May 29, 2018 by BrunoBass