Jump to content
Why become a member? ×
  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt

Danish oil


Colonel36
 Share

Recommended Posts

Have, but don't really need to on a rosewood board. Also there are various things called 'danish oil', most of them form some sort of coating, and you might not want that, they also take a fair while to dry. I've done it on boards, its jsut a wipe one, leave for a couple of minutes to soak in, and wipe off whats left. Some danish oils are actually wipe on varnish and you really don't want that, stick with ones that are tung oil and dryers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really wouldn't want to use Danish oil on a fretboard. As you have been told they are a mixture of oils and solvents/drying agents but all the ones I've seen have also contained alkyd resins of the sorts used in gloss paint and varnishes, they do vary a lot though. I don't think I would use Tung oil either, too heavy. Unless you are prepared to do some serious research I'd stick to proprietary oils like Dr Ducks or ones based on lemon oils. They may look expensive but you use so little they cost almost nothing per application. My Dr Ducks has barely gone down in 5 years, maybe about a fifth and I have two guitars and three basses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah lemon oils are best for fretboards I'd say. Better cleaning power and leaves a nice sheen to finish.

Apply a small amount using a rag, leave to settle for a few minutes and then wipe off using a different rag. Use the wiping motion a few times in case there's any stubborn bits of grime on there.

If you're looking to make an actual finish on the fretboard, then I'd use beeswax. Hardwearing, easy to clean and leaves a lovely finish after a few applications.

Truckstop

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Standard mineral oil is generally recommended over lemon oil from my research. Apparently you can get it in chemists and hardware stores, I need to track some down! Lemon oil apparently dries your board out after a short time, which I'm inclined to agree with after using it myself, it never seems to last long, after which it's dry as a bone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like danish oil, 'lemon oil' refers to various different things, maybe some will dry your board. Probably the ones that are a detergent cleaner. Others are actually oily and make your board oily.

Need to establish what the board is made of before suggesting what to do though. I've danish oiled finished maple boards because they need a finish and it feels nice. Rosewood boards, not so much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I Danish oiled a rosewood fingerboard once (years ago, but I think it may have been Rustins brand). It never looked right, and I later scraped it all off and used a lighter non-drying oil instead. I don't do it very often, but I tend to use a bottle of woodwind bore oil I have sitting around, which is just a light mineral oil.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1381419673' post='2238866']
Like danish oil, 'lemon oil' refers to various different things, maybe some will dry your board. Probably the ones that are a detergent cleaner. Others are actually oily and make your board oily.

Need to establish what the board is made of before suggesting what to do though. I've danish oiled finished maple boards because they need a finish and it feels nice. Rosewood boards, not so much.
[/quote]
They're rosewood Mr foxen.
I'm only playing around really but I'd just like a nice near gloss look...well. a nice shine if you know what I mean.
Does what you put on the fretboard affect the sound?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Colonel36' timestamp='1381471696' post='2239487']
They're rosewood Mr foxen.
I'm only playing around really but I'd just like a nice near gloss look...well. a nice shine if you know what I mean.
Does what you put on the fretboard affect the sound?
[/quote]

Danish oil goes as far as the shiny side of satin at best. Got shiny, need to do other things. Plain oil and some rubbing will get you that far on rosewood. What you put on the fretboard can effect sound, mostly by getting on the strings and dulling them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...