DavidR Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 What's a good oil for the AR speaker cabinets and typical places to get the oil?(sorry if this has been discussed before) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 BLO, Watco and Howard's Restore products are popular. I think BLO is more work. I like wet sanding with Watco and I've haven't used Howard's yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted June 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Boiled Linseed Oil is easy to get hold of. I have to be careful about things like Tung oil as its from a nut and my son has a severe allegy to peanuts and tree nuts.I will have to look into Watco and Howard's. A while back some one recommended Old English. It has mineral oil in it. Any experience with that?Thanks for the feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 ... A while back some one recommended Old English. It has mineral oil in it. Any experience with that?...I think I would use olive oil with lemon juice/oil before "Old English" but hey, that's just me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Is it just to feed a dry but otherwise fine cabinet, or to do a more aggressive restore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 What are you trying to do here, just clean and polish, or do you need to refinish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted June 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Is it just to feed a dry but otherwise fine cabinet, or to do a more aggressive restore?dry wood and fine cabinets - polish. no refinishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 If it doesn't have a build-up of gunk (including pledge) on them making them dull and dark, just use a little BLO or any other similar danish oil without color in it. You could even wet sand with it with some 400 paper to really make them shine and bring out the grain. Mineral spirits can be used to clean build-up off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tysontom Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Is it just to feed a dry but otherwise fine cabinet, or to do a more aggressive restore?If you want to keep the cabinet finish truly original, you could simply lightly sand the cabinet (or rub it with steel wool), and then you could apply boiled-linseed oil, same as original. You would need to do this with two or three coats for best results. Watco Satin Oil is very similar and is very easy to apply. In recent years, new finishing oils have been developed, and probably the best of the lot is Mohawk's polyurethane finish, "Pour-N-Wipe," a fine oil/poly finish that dries to a satin or semi-gloss finish. This finish was developed for interior finishing of oiled teak and Mozambique-Aframosia wood trim and cabinets for Hatteras Yacht Company and the marine industry, and it is an excellent product. This finish, though relatively expensive, will last a long time and is very mar-resistant.—Tom TysonAR_Memo_Applying-Furniture-Finishes_Dec1965.pdfMohawk_Pour-N-Wipe_M603-301.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 I am sure tom and the others that have dealt with these speakers over the years can attest is that the BLO finish does darken considerably over the years. This is one of the downfalls with BLO. Companies used it because it gives a very nice finish affordably for production purposes. Other oils that would fall into the tung oil category can provide a better long term and hard finish that does not get darker over time including teak oils. If you can find it, Dalys Seafin Teak Oil is a great product if you follow the can directions. Oils and the stuff Tom mentions above are each "finishes" , as is lacquer, varnish etc. Many different ways to finish something.I have personally been wet sanding some old oiled cabinets with mineral spirits to get rid of some of the top brown dullness and following with the Dalys for good results. the amount of "brown" that comes off when you wet sand with the spirits can be amazing and the grain reappears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 BLO is a finishing oil. It's a good choice for older AR cabinets with worn out spots because it's the original finish. But it's not a polish and shouldn't be used as one.Watco "danish oil" is an "oil finish," not an oil. That means it's an oil-based mixture of penetrating oil and a surface varnish. Equivalent products from companies like Mohawk or Minwax are the same. Also not polishes.Howard Restor-a-Finish and other finish "restorers" are solvents that soften existing finishes and allow dirt, stains and some wear to be evened out. For an oil-finished wood with no topcoat, there's not much softening going on and what's mostly happening is cleaning and a bit of dyeing if a tinted product is selected.There's a recipe for diluting BLO with turpentine that used to be perfect for treating oiled wood that didn't need a major refinish. The turpentine cleaned and the thinned down oil filled in minor scratches, scuffs and other worn patches. Today,s equivalent products use naptha instead. Same principle but nastier smelling and potentially explosive. Watco makes a version they call "rejuvenating oil." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Good synopsis, Gene.Just a note if BLO is used it should be refreshed every six months. It was probably a rare set of speakers that ever got that kind of treatment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Maybe not. AR's instructions for the every six month BLO treatment was to leave it on for a half hour, as opposed to the eight hour + four hour sitting times for applying it as a refinish. Basically, that was the "rejuvenating oil" exercise, because back in the 60s commercial BLO products were a blend of linseed oil and turpentine. Linseed oil hasn't actually been boiled since sometime around Leonardo da Vinci's time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 ..... which was the same century that they introduced the Alpha-Rho IV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Maybe not. AR's instructions for the every six month BLO treatment was to leave it on for a half hour, as opposed to the eight hour + four hour sitting times for applying it as a refinish. Basically, that was the "rejuvenating oil" exercise, because back in the 60s commercial BLO products were a blend of linseed oil and turpentine. Linseed oil hasn't actually been boiled since sometime around Leonardo da Vinci's time.Yeah, not too many people into lead oxide these days. I use it on tools, ladders, etc. "I suppose they should have named it "sort-of-boiled linseed oil", or "kinda-like-boiled-but-not-really-boiled linseed oil". Here's the low-down:http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=145 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted June 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Thanks for the great responses. I was hoping for something easier than BLO but may end up going that route. Can't use Tung oil because of my son's nut allergy. I have lots of experience with solvents and kind of want to stay away from products that have high percentages of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 If your cabinets don't need refinishing, I'd look at some of the biobased cleaners and polishes. The cleaners are generally based on orange oil or coconut soap and the polishes are blends of plant oils and beeswax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 The following statement was made back in post #9, with regards to BLO: "Watco Satin Oil is very similar and is very easy to apply." When Watco is affordable, easy-to-use, a time-tested favorite here on this site, and readily available at every decent hardware store, why wouldn't this be a perfectly satisfactory first choice for someone unfamiliar with the many products named here?Just like the endless debate on capacitors, we're over-thinking this a bit with a whole lot of armchair chemistry. Most probably, all of these products can be used with great success - - you just need to roll up your sleeves and find a product/process that yields the results you're after based on the skills you possess. I have been delighted to learn about the Howard's products via this forum, and they surely have their place in restoration efforts, particularly the solvent-based restore-a-finish (RAF). For finishing, my own comfort and minimal skill level seems to be served well using Watco oil products, as shown in the top two speaker pairs, and it is largely inconsequential to me if this qualifies as an "oil finish" or a "finishing oil". I use either (or both) the natural and regular walnut oil shades, and I often tend to swab in a dab of mahogany Minwax stain since I strongly prefer the reddish hue exhibited in some walnut veneer flitches. After drying, if the sheen remains a bit glossy, I will buff it down lightly with very fine bronze wool. Subsequent applications should not be based on any calendar timeframe, but instead on the particulars of your home's environment and your own penchant for spit-shine housekeeping of wooden furniture. In the simplest scenario, sometimes all you might need is a little polish, buff or wax with no abrasives or oil involved at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 The biggest reason for being careful about what you put on wood is compatibility with the existing finish. You would not want to put Watco over an existing lacquer or poly finish, but over the original AR BLO finish shouldn't be a problem, unless a previous owner has treated the wood with a polish containing silicone. Once that stuff gets into the wood, applying a finish with a coating ingredient like Watco's varnish may produce an ugly effect called "fisheye." You won't get that with an all-penetrating finish like BLO, because the oil doesn't leave a coating.Another reason to be concerned about finish choice is authenticity. Much less of an issue with mass-produced consumer audio, but if I ever happened across an intact AR-1 with a lower serial number than Tom Tyson's that is too beat up to keep as-is, I'm not putting anything on the wood that wasn't originally there when it was made.And now DavidR has given us something new to think about: sensitivity to the ingredients in the finish, both while it's being applied and after it's been cured. I've never given any thought at all to what might happen if a toddler with a severe nut allergy were to lick or chew on something finished with tung oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 I read "BLO", but what brand produce the one mentioned / used here?Googling on "BLO finish" or "BLO Oil" gives a lot of info on: Linseed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 BLO is short for "boiled linseed oil." A long time ago - and I'm talking hundreds of years here, dating back to medieval times - raw linseed oil was boiled with lead oxide added to produce a penetrating oil that would polymerize and harden when exposed to air. What is now sold as BLO is actually a small amount of raw linseed oil mixed with stand oil - linseed again or nowadays more commonly, soy oil that has been heated to below boiling for long periods of time and with a petroleum-based additive called a drier. It used to be further thinned for use with turpentine, but today a petroleum based turpenoid is used, because real turpentine isn't common anymore.It really doesn't matter what brand of BLO you buy, as it's all made the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 BLO is short for "boiled linseed oil." LOL, obvious Is just regular "BLO" enough or should it have special additions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 For just cleaning/maintenance, do what Genek suggested a few post ago with the cleaner oils. You can do a wipe on wipe off with the BLO after if you want, but you may see you don't need to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 I recently read a oil varnish finish formula that consisted of equal parts 100% pure Tung oil, varnish , and turpentine. Sounded like it might be a good fit for restored cabinets to give it the same original look yet better resistance to darkening, water etc. I will probably give it a try on something coming up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 If your cabinets don't need refinishing, I'd look at some of the biobased cleaners and polishes. The cleaners are generally based on orange oil or coconut soap and the polishes are blends of plant oils and beeswax.Love some of these and make up my own on occassion and they work great on leather also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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