 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2003-12-06 14:33
I was just wondering...on a wood clarinet, could you use furniture polish such as Pledge on the exterior to polish it? Anyone ever tried it? What about teak oil?
Leonard
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2003-12-06 14:48
I just use sparing amount of bore oil, well rubbed in. Works on the inside, why not the outside?
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Author: hans
Date: 2003-12-06 14:56
Leonard,
I think teak oil is just boiled linseed oil. It needs to be completely wiped off after a few minutes, otherwise you'll end up with a sticky mess and have to use mineral spirits to remove the residue.
I do the same as Paul - use a small amount of bore oil.
When I was a teenager I had a plastic clarinet and waxed it with a household product. It gave it an unattractive white coating and it was difficult to remove. That was the last time I used something not specifically recommended for my clarinets.
Hans
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Author: Rick Williams
Date: 2003-12-06 15:45
Teak oil is a derivative of linseed oil, not boiled which is the difference between raw linseed oil and boiled linseed. Boiled linseed oil typically takes a full day to dry and raw linseed takes days. Raw linseed is used very little on wood today and boiled is used primarily on older furniture that already has a linseed oil finish. Teak oil will dry in under a day and gets its name from the wood it was popular to use on, but I would not care to use any of them on a clarinet.
I haven't looked at the ingrediants of Pledge, but I'd be fairly cautious about using most of the consumer wax's, cleaners and polishes. I've seen some wax/polish degrade or destroy upholstery on antique furniture and build up layers to where a general cleaning was required. A number of others end up drying out the wood or building gummy surfaces that are a pain to clean up.
I believe Doc's Products sells a microcrystalline wax which is used in many muesuems to protect valuable woodwork and it is also used in the personal care industry. It is pH stable and provides a non clouding finish. I've bought and used microcrystalline wax for my own furniture projects and it not inexpensive. The wax base product runs around $15/250g. I just happen to live near a major distributor for this wax..
So my suggestion would be to visit Doc's page and lookup his information on the wax. Better safe than sorry!
Best
Rick
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Author: Wes
Date: 2003-12-06 20:06
The Laubin oboe company recommends Lemon Pledge as a treatment for their very fine oboes as I recall.
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Author: Rev. Avery
Date: 2003-12-06 20:58
I'm wondering why it would be advantageous to use a wood polish rather than the regular bore oil? Is it so the clarinet will look shinier or for the benefit of the wood itself?
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2003-12-06 21:06
Leonard....
Leave the clarinet alone. It'll be alright as it is. Bore oil only and sparingly.
Actually just in the bore....and it'll soak through to the top without having to wipe the outside. But be careful not to get the pads all soaked up. Put cigarette paper under them or dollar bills. And from expreience, even that doesn't help if the clarinet is hydrated enough as is.
JG
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Author: Dawne
Date: 2003-12-07 06:04
On cruddy old horns I have purchased on ebay or in pawn shops, I have used Kleenguard to clean up the grunge, from oils and dirt, with very good results. Qtips with Kleenguard work great to get around posts, under and around springs. Then I have used Old English furniture polish which gives the wood a rich warm deep, and slighly gleeming finish. I got brave and used the Old English on my good, intermediate horn, and it cleaned the surface and gave it a new look. So, I eventually used it, sparingly once, on my professional horn to clean up the surface of oils and sweat from hands, and the dirt that sticks to it. It worked great, and looks new. I would do it occasionally without much trepidation. I would not use Pledge on anything, not even my furniture. It has gobs of wax in it.
Dawne Morgan
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Author: BobD
Date: 2003-12-07 13:51
I was surprised to learn that tung oil is a derivative of linseed oil since my VanNostrand's Scientific Ency. says it's derived from the seeds of the tung tree. Just goes to show you can't always believe what you read.
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2003-12-07 14:20
Furniture polish is also excellent for cleaning lacquered saxophones.A
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-12-07 14:58
I used raw linseed oil many years ago on some wooden puzzles I made. after a few years it polymerised to a texture like half-set varnish - the 'drippings' inside the varnish can. This was quite unpleasant to touch.
I bought a pint of tung oil, and I don't think I ever used it. 10 years later the entire can was the same sort of gooey solid mess.
So I suggest you use something THOROUGHLY tried and true - Renaissance wax (also called museum wax), or Doctors Product mentioned above.
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-12-07 15:22
Butcher's wax, available in the Big Orange can, is similar to the stuff used on bowling alleys. It's tough, clear, and easy to remove.
With a little buffing, it should do well on a piece of M'Pingo.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-12-07 17:16
If I wanted my Clarinet to look all shiny, I'd just play a plastic one.
Oh, wait, I *do* play a plastic one most of the time.
Never mind.
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Author: icecoke12
Date: 2003-12-08 09:21
I have read about how bacteria thrive and multiply rapidly in oils derived from plants or other natural sources like olive or almond oil.
Does anyone know more about this and how will bacteria growth harm the wood of the instrument?
Hmm. Or does it harm the user of the instrument? Well.. as long as we wash our hands after playing the clarinet before meals...
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2003-12-08 15:27
Thanks to all for your comments. It seems that there is not much support for using furniture polish and it's probably safer not to although Dawn did report good results with Old English.
Synonymous Botch (or anyone else), where do you get Butcher's wax.
Leonard
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-12-08 16:55
Please pardon me
for speaking for SB;
but most hardware stores are
where Butcher's Wax you'll see.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2003-12-08 21:59
Butcher's comes in a fairly large can orange and white and contains a significant amout of carnauba wax......which comes from the carnauba tree.
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2003-12-08 22:41
(Disclaimer - I sell a wood cleaner and microcrystalline wax) I feel that wood should "breathe" and be able to transpire moisture in and out of the wood. The oil in the wood buffers this flux of moisture adequately. Many older wooden horns have accumulations of dirt and grime as well as dirt laden oil clogging the pores of the wood which in addition to stopping this moisture transfer also are breeding ground for mold and bacteria whose byproducts can harm wood. There are several cleaners and home brew solutions used by folks but you must be careful not to use anything harsh to wood or that will raise the grain as well as not removing too much of the oil from the wood.
I feel that the wax on the surface of the outside should also allow the wood to breathe and that is why some waxes are better than others. A sealing wax like parrafin based waxes forms a solid water impermeable barrier (if coverage is complete). Some of the plant based waxes like carnauba and others form overlapping sheets that repel water but also allow some moisture exchange. Carnauba wax from the palm tree is very hard and most often is mixed with organic solvents and other waxes (primarily parrafin) to make it possible to apply. Microcrystalline wax forms the same overlapping plates as the carnauba but is much harder and does not show fingerprints and allows moisture exchange. Museums throughout the world use microcrystalline wax because it is pH neutral and does not form acidic byproducts like many household wax formulations can form upon aging.
The Doctor
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Author: glcdurham
Date: 2015-02-06 00:11
My friend is a professional strings luthier and he told me to use Pledge but nothing else this was on guitar's wooden bodies. And lemon oil for fingerboard. This to me suggests Pledge would be OK for a wooden clarinet ?
Retired
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-02-06 03:52
Well it's a whole different ballgame when the wood has to breath, expand and contract with the taking on of condensation and the drying out over night. A polish will seal the pores and make this process more complicated.
If you have strong feelings about the aesthetics of the horn, I might try (once the keys are all removed) a non chemical buffing either by hand (will take elbow grease) or some variable speed gizm that doesn't turn TOO fast.
Chances are that the wood is just SO dry that it really needs bore oil treatment (down the bore) to reinvigorate it. We had a poster recently who showed time lapse photos of this slow process taken over the course of weeks and toward the end of the process things looked like new!
To bore oil properly, you put a light layer in (take a hanky style swab and get it damp with bore oil, or orange oil) the bore just so that it looks shiny (but not soaking wet). The next day if there is no remnant of the bore oil (shiny spots) then the wood has absorbed all of it and you do this again, and again, and again, until there is some evidence of bore oil in the bore the next day. On an old clarinet this may take a very long time.
............Paul Aviles
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2015-02-06 05:11
In general, a luthier is dealing with an instrument that has a varnished finish. This would serve as a separating layer between the wood and any product put on the surface of the instrument. As the doctor points out, the surface of a wood clarinet needs to breathe, so cannot have any varnish like finish sealing it. The luthier's product is relatively thin and unfinished on the inside so that any necessary breathing can be accomplished through a single surface. Because these differences can be rather significant, it does not necessarily follow that what is good for one instrument is equally good for another.
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Author: jim riggs
Date: 2015-02-07 10:20
Suggest you go to this web site: the-clarinets.net then click on
the item listed as "oiled"
This helped me a lot in restoring a vintage wood Albert system.
jriggs@dc.rr.com
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2015-02-07 20:55
A good repair tech once pointed out to me that pledge and similar products do contain petroleum distillates which are poisonous, if that's a concern.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: richard smith
Date: 2015-02-08 19:20
use walnut oil, available at your grocery store. apply thin coat, do not rub in, let set overnight, will be dry and nongreasy next morninig. non toxic; used to give walnut kitchen bowls a beautiful patina. try it !!
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