posted 09 July 2001 08:44 AM         

Anyway, to make a long story even longer...

I was about to give up when an elderly gentlemen noticed my struggle and suggested using [now don't blame me for the spelling] TRICHLORAETHYLEN. He advised me to clean my wood with it, using generous amounts of the liquid OUTDOORS cause if ya sniff id, id can gause blain damage... duh...

It worked like a dream... that wood came out dry like nothing I had ever seen before (and so did my brain).
It will also wipe away any lacquer and may do a number on mica or at the glue that was suposed to hold it on your guitar's wood and can disolve some plasics (kind'a like ACETONE). Funny thing is, it did not separate the plys of that plywood... now that I've come to think of it... strange...

The way I have been explained that it works is, that it changes oil into something else that you just can wipe off.
Works great on mother in laws too!

posted 09 July 2001 08:50 AM         

Subjecting the wood to heat will open/enlarge the pores. I don't think that what you want to do if you're trying to remove oil that is entrapped. Try cooling to encourage as much oil to rise to the surface as possible.

The best solvent for most oils would be lighter fluid. It is a petroleum distillate and evaporates quickly leaving virtually no residue.

Bearing that in mind, I would try soaking the surface with lighter fluid and wiping off the excess -- repeat several times.

You may want to saturate then take it outside to warm up and expand the pores. As it's warming up, be sure to keep the surface saturated. Once it's warm and saturated, take it indoors and let it cool. This should force the oil, which has been thinned by the lighter fluid, to come to the surface as the pores contract.

Keep wiping the surface off with lighter fluid until no oil is visible on the cloth. I would have the adhesive ready and mica cut to size. Douse it one more time with lighter fluid, wipe it off with the cloth, dry thoroughly, and get that adhesive on the surface as fast as you can. Hopefully it will set up before any residual oil begins oozing. Good luck!

Hope this works -- it should.

Needless to say (hopefully): DON'T SMOKE OR GET NEAR A FLAME OR HEAT SOURCE. (duh!)

LTB

posted 09 July 2001 08:59 AM         

Now, I do suspect that the wood on a model airplane is thinner than that on a guitar, and more lightweight and porous, as well. It might take several "soakings" to get rid of all that oil on your guitar's wood. Also, it will not affect water based glues very much, which is probably why it didn't delaminate the plywood of JD's planes!

posted 09 July 2001 03:43 PM         

Lighter fluid is much less dangerous.
I'd certainly try it first.

LTB

posted 10 July 2001 08:46 AM         

------------------
Regards,

John

Steelin' is a way of life!

My PSG website-Carter SD-12-U, 8p/5k, Nashville 1000

posted 10 July 2001 12:05 PM         

------------------
ree-00-dee-doo

[This message was edited by Cairo Zoots on 10 July 2001 at 12:06 PM.]

posted 10 July 2001 06:58 PM         

I worked with a series of solvents, acids and a lot of industrial powders which I personally don't think anyone should go near.
Anyone heard of Vulcan powder or Areosil at all, light and fine, made to blend with liquids and especially good for coating lungs.
With hindsight these were probably poor choices for a day job for a guy who had a series of chest ailments right up into his early 20s.

Anyway, I'd advise you to treat any stripper with the utmost care, use adiquate ventilation and protective gear at all times.
Storage is another issue you should take into account, although I don't imagine you'd buy anything in large quantities as it's a reasonably small job. (perhaps not small in effort though).

I think you'll never quite get all the oil out, it sounds bad in that respect and I see that quite a few others are thinking along the same lines as the general theme here is to get rid of the upper surface oil, prep the surface and seal it in while you have a workable surface.

This is great in theory, but I imagine there will be seepage, of course this will be gradual and I think if some of the sealing ideas work then it won't really matter.
You can always repeat the process every few years, decades..whatever.

I used to do floor and wall sealing, which is an interesting prospect when some places have had their concrete or brickwork soaked in chemicals, water, oils, fat, etc for many years. This means that as much as we treated the surface, or even stripped it right back (which was the best option, but not for your case as it was a heavy stripping, whereas your's would be light at best), there was a certain amount of seepage.
Depending on how much seepage there was depended on how well the floor bonded or lifted. Plus there was the whole issue of any waek spots not being taken care of, quite often we'd have a place where a section would lift, but the way factories operate means that it's months before anyone really gets onto the problem and some serious maintainence is done. By then a large section is usually corrupted by a weak spot of hole in the surface.

This is getting way off topic, so i advise the stripping and sealing is your best solution.
The oven idea sounds interesting, and if you're prepared to go that far into stripping the body back so you can work on it, then perhaps there might be an option of sealing it in some sort of powder to absorb the oil. I was thinking emersing it in salt, but that might be useless.
I'm not at all aware of the effects and capabilities of wood grain, other than it's abilty to absorb.

Personally I'd stay clear of solvents, I used to make an illegal mix of cleaning solution (N-Butanol, Methyl Ethol Ketone and Toluene) to strip flooring and clean epoxy tools as well as using Acetone.

posted 10 July 2001 07:46 PM         

I too worked for the phone company, & we used trichloroethylene extensively. I've also recently been experiencing some nerve problems that they've been unable to accurately diagnose, but I never considered the possibility of trichloroethylene being the culprit until I read you post. Anyway, I've sent you an email with some questions & would appreciate any input you might have.

Thanks,

posted 12 July 2001 04:45 AM         

I've got to say though that the best advice here comes from Jason Odd when he says:

quote:

---

I'd advise you to treat any stripper with the utmost care

---

posted 12 July 2001 09:12 PM         

Gene, my job was too blend epoxy resins with different aggregates and pigments at one job, plus making up the solvents. When I worked for the Sydney branch years before as a grunt and painter, I used to wash my hands in the solvent until I noticed that small scratches where healing up three times quicker. That ain't right!