Rosewood fingerboard finish?

[Brian Burns]

Hello again All,

I've recently been favoring rosewood as a fingerboard wood, and have been looking around for a finish for them that keeps their wonderful appearance---standard fingerboard oil leaves them quite dull looking.

I've been applying Tru Oil, which looks great at first. A few days later it's back to dulls-ville. I've been thinking that I'll just put on a bunch of coats, but I don't want the boards to end up feeling gummy.

Suggestions?

Cheers,

Brian

[Russell Vance]

Hi Brian,

The more residual fingerboard oil/conditioner you remove after application the more likely you are to maintain a glow on the board.  So,  let the oil/conditioner stand on the board with a liberal application until it starts to "drag" a little on the cleanup cloth and then remove as much as you can with fairly aggressive towelling.   You may wish to use 0000 steel wool if the boards are a bit rough as this knocks down the grain a little and gives a higher shine to rough surfaces.  However you need to remove all the steel wool residue (little steel hairs) with a good brushing/towelling.  Final fret polish is done when everything has gassed off and hardened otherwize the dust from polishing will collect at the fret/fingerboard junction

We use a pure tung oil with a citric turpine thinner or Kunos/Livos (not sure if that's readily availabe outside of Aust) with a bio thinner and go for a 50/50 mix.    Application by cotton bud and Cotton terry towel is the best way to get this stuff polished off.   Main thing is to give it a towelling that generates a glow with no residue - no drag or marking when you move yr fingertip across the surface.

Rusty.

[Ron Frazier]

Don't use the metal steel wool.  Go to a auto paint store and get a fiber replacement for wool .  I glue a 1\4 inch to a board and sand away I polish my frets with this .

Ron

[Brian Burns]

Hello Ron,

You are right about steel wool. I used to use the finest grade to apply wax to the furniture I made, and there was always some little hair of the stuff stuck in an inaccesible spot.

See my note about Assilex above.

Cheers,

Brian

[Brian Burns]

Hello Russell,

Thanks for your excellent answer!

"let the oil/conditioner stand on the board with a liberal application until it starts to "drag".

I think that is where I'm making my mistake. I've been wiping off the Tru-Oil too soon. It sets up pretty fast, and I haven't wanted to end up with a sticky fingerboard. I'll give it a bit longer before I start to wipe off the excess.

As for fret polishing, I use a product called "Super Assilex" made by eagleabrasives.com. Their main market is auto body repair shops, so they don't advertise to wood workers or luthiers. You may be familiar with their 2500 grit and 3000 grit "Buflex" that is carried by LMI.

Assilex is their product line for the coarser grits from 2000 down to 240 grit, with half a dozen gradations along the way. The stuff is the best sanding material in every way that I have used in a long lifetime of woodworking. I don't use regular sandpaper for hand sanding at all anymore.

Amazon carries their "job packs" that I find to be the most useful quantities to buy. And as I said, the finer grits do a great job of polishing frets, and do it quick!

Cheers,

Brian

[Russell Vance]

Hi Brian,

We buy our abrasives from a wide range of suppliers and auto body repair shops are on the list for some specialty jobs ( two pack primer flattening on wood for instance).

For fret polishing we have used Micro Mesh sticks mounted  in special ergonomic holders (RSI and Carpel Tunnel problems abound in the industry - including self) for as long as I can remember.  The sticks range from 180 to 6000 grit or thereabouts and are cushioned and highly manoeuverable.   They also have graceful degradation in use providing a graduated and finer polish over the time of application. 

Steel wool (0000) is a handy medium when hand  finishing wood with oil and it also degrades quickly to give a finer finish over time, its also handy for getting into the side areas of frets (shoulders) and removing tarnish/grunge that flat abrasive sheets struggle with.  A bit messy but far from dead as a process.

But, I agree with your observation regarding auto body products - we have an auto body paint shop in the adjacent factory and they show me cool stuff all the time (including spraying our metallics and matte meatllic clearcoats for our specialty non-nitro stuff) - they think my finishing systems are out of the Ark and tell me so every other day.  I tend to agree with them.

Rusty. 

[Brian Burns]

Hello Rusty,

I have a large drawer dedicated to Micro Mesh, but find that Assilex is a lot more agressive for the same grit and finish. That makes it faster, and hence less strain on the tendonitis in my right forearm.

I should mention that Assilex is a fabric based product, like Micro Mesh, but without the rubber--- non loading like MM too...

Cheers,

Brian

[Richard Bales]

For many years I was doing fine antique furniture restoration.  In communication with the British Museum I settled on using their recipe for an oil cleaner/conditioner they use for fine work.  The key to using it was to apply it, then rub it off - as if you made a mistake applying it.  Rub hard and long as if to eradicate it.  Leave it a few days and repeat the process.  Maybe even a third time.  The results were always a soft glow that never looked dull.

Since then I use the same procedure for dealing with all drying-type oils.  Superb results every time if you apply enough elbow grease at each stage.

[Roger Häggström]

The best fingerboard oil I have ever used is this one, It's etanol based with some fine oils, cleans gunk very well and gives the wood a classy appereance. https://www.joha.eu/en/care-products/joha-fingerboard-oil?c=361

[Brian Burns]

Hello Roger,

This product sounds wonderful!

Is there a company in the US that sells it? Shipping "hazardous" materials across international borders can get very expensive.

I was once able to get a "sample quantity" of a varnish sent from Australia to the US via the normal mailing process. I seem to remember that it was about 120cc.

Thanks very much for your reply (:->)...

Cheers,

Brian

[Roger Häggström]

Yes, it's the best. Unfortunately I don't know if it's imported to USA or how much the shipping is.

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

Here you go:

http://www.howardcore.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?search=action&cat..."Miscellaneous Items For Finishing & Repair"

this link may not work but just go to howardcore.com

[Roger Häggström]

There it was! Not so cheap though, might be cheaper to buy from the maker directly. But a small bottle will go a long way, you don't need much oil to treat one fingerboard. I'm waiting for my liter metal can I just sent for, will keep my shop going many years!