Paint Stripper

[DarwinStrings]

I've noticed Diggers brand shellite seems oily too, and smells a bit different ( ).

I'd like to know where I could get nice clean naptha in bulk though...

I have cleaned hundreds of glue joints with Diggers Shellite and never had one fail, if in fact Digger Shellite does have some oil content then it is nothing to worry about, some of the glue joints have been on kitchen bench tops (around sinks) as well as bar tops, they have not failed. I have built dinning chairs and lounge chairs from cooktown ironwood, I clean those joints with the same, they have not failed and they are high stress joints. From my experience any worry about this product seems like much ado about nothing and I would like to know if anyone has had a joint fail that has been cleaned with this product?

Jim

Life is good when you are amongst the wood even if you do have to use the occasional nasty solvent.

[liam_fnq]

I use diggers Turps on just about everything. I wet down timber with it to see how it will look under finish. I clean glue joints on oily timbers. I clean the instrument after sanding/before applying finish. Never had any dramas.

[Matt Bach]

I should qualify my statements, I'm using the stuff to cleaning already finished guitars and metal parts. It's great for things like gaffa tape/sticker residue and general filth (although a good old damp cloth does most of the work). My day job is setup work and most of that involves cleaning various substances from parts and finishes (aka guitar janitor to the stars). I use it sparingly but end up going through a bit.

I'm not suggesting that using it will cause glue joints to fail or that it doesn't work for a million other uses; just that my diggers shellite left an oily film on gloss surfaces where the sceneys/zippo/venti stuff doesn't. Not the end of the world by any means.

Thanks Kim for the link to the bulk stuff, I will have a look when I need to get more.

[DarwinStrings]

Maybe Kim is correct then Matt, it may be a matter of batches. I just re-glued the bridge on a Fender acoustic bass, I used epoxy as that is how it is factory done anyway. To clean the squeeze out I use clean rag and once I have removed most of it I use rag with Diggers shellite. I noticed that even smearing epoxy glue over the two pack gloss black finish, once I had finished wiping there was no discernible residue left on the finish.

Jim

[Matt Bach]

Just to confuse everyone further, I think I want to retract my above statements. I can't edit the post so I want to explain why I'm changing my mind. I do apologise for the threadjacking.

I did a test today on a sheet of light white paper. I used diggers shellite, venti lighter fluid and diggers white spirit, putting each liquid on the paper, expecting any residue to remain on/in the paper after evaporation. I used a couple of pipettes and squirted some down the page, marking what was what. I wasn't particularly concerned with exact mls but I used enough to wet the paper in roughly equal amounts.

After one minute the shellite had disappeared; the lighter fluid soon after; the white spirit took a while but was gone within 20 mins. This was expected, but eventually, after they were all dry, there was no trace of contamination. Even when held up to a floodlight/daylight I could not see any discolouration or even tell where the liquid was to start with.

I repeated the test on a bit of scratchplate plastic with the same results. I took pictures but they are extremely uninteresting. I might try it tomorrow with some actual wood (in which case I'd expect longer drying but still no trace after drying).

I maintain they all smell different but I'm not going to sniff any more lest I loose more brain cells. I guess that's what they mean by "aromatic hydrocarbons"...

Feel free to replicate the test but I guess the moral is that if you let it dry it shouldn't ever be a problem.

I think perhaps when I was using the products in the past, something else was causing the oilyness; maybe my own misunderstanding of the products drying time, maybe a reaction with an existing polish or the rag itself, or any number of things including my early onset dementia.

[kiwigeo]

Maybe Kim is correct then Matt, it may be a matter of batches.

This is of concern to me..it suggest that quality control is not as good as it could be.

[kiwigeo]

I think perhaps when I was using the products in the past, something else was causing the oilyness; maybe my own misunderstanding of the products drying time, maybe a reaction with an existing polish or the rag itself, or any number of things including my early onset dementia.

Maybe but I know that the last time I used Shellite I eliminated all possible sources of oiliness other than the Shellite itself. The stuff also had an oily feel when taken straight from the bottle and rubbed between my fingers.

[Kim]

The stuff also had an oily feel when taken straight from the bottle and rubbed between my fingers.

That was probably the oil in your skin Marty, naphtha takes no prisoners when it comes to 'removing' oil and is will suck your hands dry as a bone in a nanosecond. It will do the same to wood as well or any surface such as oily metals just prior to painting, it can even pull melted wax out of wood and THAT is pretty impressive because I don't know of anything else that will.

Cheers

Kim

[DarwinStrings]

Nice test Matt, you have convinced me

Jim