Swan Lighter Fluid - Safe for rosewood use?

NCo

Just wondering if anyone knows if this is naphta. I have a bit and I'd like to use it to clean a rosewood fretboard.

Thanks.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/274057144

PrecisionGuided

According to the Safety Information it contains Solvent Naphtha (Petroleum) Light Aliph so I'd say it's fine for cleaning fretboards.

SteveRobinson

It will probably leave the wood looking and feeling a bit dry so you might want to treat it with some oil and/or wax to condition it afterwards.

TheMarlin

Good and safe for cleaning nitro too.  I’ve cleaned whole guitars with the stuff. 

jasonbone75

I use it quite often but as @SteveRobinson points out make sure you treat it afterwards. It cleans very well but evaporates extremely fast so do 6 - 8 frets at a time to manage things easier.

NCo

Thanks.

Will use it for cleaning and then try the Montypresso stuff on a cheap guitar I have. Is this sufficient?

jasonbone75

You want an oil or wax really - that stuff is a stain. It might have a wax carrier or something but it isn't so much for conditioning the wood. I use old school lemon oil mainly because I still have some from years ago. There will be a few more modern suggestions coming hopefully...

NCo

Interesting, I thought it was actual wax with a bit of stain, not the other way around.

I have some lemon oil I can apply after removing the wax.

jasonbone75

NCo said:

Interesting, I thought it was actual wax with a bit of stain, not the other way around.

I have some lemon oil I can apply after removing the wax.

Could be I've only seen the website briefly and never used it. See how it comes up after the wax and if it is nice and lustrous and not patchy you are probably good to go without an oil.

NCo

Used the naphta and the board became super light in colour. Only used a bit, is this normal?

 

What's interesting is the line pattern:

 

Applied the Montypresso, this will sit until Sunday:

jasonbone75

The line pattern is wear from finger pressure. That wood has been exposed for less time than the unworn parts so is lighter. Perfectly normal to lighten overall as the dirt comes off and some of the natural oils are pulled out. After conditioning/oiling the colour is restored.

Winny_Pooh

Normal

I use the music nomad oil on the board after, nicer than lemon oil.

SteveRobinson

NCo said:

Applied the Montypresso, this will sit until Sunday:

Do you think you put enough on?

mrkb

SteveRobinson said:

NCo said:

Applied the Montypresso, this will sit until Sunday:

Do you think you put enough on?

There’s a chance the inlays aren’t going to go brown, I’d put a bit more on

Penn

mrkb said:

SteveRobinson said:

NCo said:

Applied the Montypresso, this will sit until Sunday:

Do you think you put enough on?

There’s a chance the inlays aren’t going to go brown, I’d put a bit more on

I’ve put it on like that. Better more than enough than too little. 2 days of sitting like that works pretty well. 

NCo

SteveRobinson said:

NCo said:

Applied the Montypresso, this will sit until Sunday:

Do you think you put enough on?

Appreciate the sarcasm, but I went a) according to the instructions and b)according to the experience of those who used the product.

thermionic

I recently did a bass with Montypresso and I couldn’t see how leaving it like that for long is the best way. I suspect it might be diminishing returns - it probably doesn’t change much after the first couple of hours. Which is why I put about 4 applications over about 36-48 hours - my theory is the buffing off between applications means more stain gets rubbed into the grain each time. Anyway, I was quite pleased with the results and hope it works equally well with the OP’s Les Paul.

FelineGuitars

Just a heads up - you can get cans of lighter fluid at pound-stores too. ( we use a lot of it). to be fair we just buy 5 litre bottles of naptha online now

randella

FelineGuitars said:

Just a heads up - you can get cans of lighter fluid at pound-stores too. ( we use a lot of it). to be fair we just buy 5 litre bottles of naptha online now

Yep - I did get a funny look from the guy once when I bought a few cans. Didn't improve matters by telling him it was for cleaning a dirty fingerboard

3M used to make some stuff called Clean Art, my dad used it in his drawing work. That did a good job (and filled your Zippo too) but it was bloody expensive and - I suspect - was basically slightly more refined Naptha anyway.

SteveRobinson

Have you scraped off the wax yet? How was the transformation?

NCo

Hey, I did, I found the result very underwhelming. I honestly could not see a difference.

Because of this, I couldn't be bothered to go for 2-3 more applications.

I have the can if you want, I'll happily post it.