Long term care of Tru Oil finish

[ChrisL]

Apologies if this has been asked/answered elsewhere.

Does anyone have any good tips/suggestions for what to use for general regular cleaning of a tru oil finish?

I use Dunlop 65 on my 'regular' finished guitars, but doubt this is suitable.

Cheers

[Rabbitz]

I don't know what Dunlop 65 actually is so I can comment other than to say that Tru-Oil is a gunstock finish. It is designed to protect against things like sweat, water, blood and oil. I can't see a furniture polish hurting it.

On all of my rifles that are finished with Tru-oil (or any other gunstock finish for that matter) at the end of the day I simply wipe it dry with a soft cloth, before oiling the metal bits. I have never had a gun oil or bore solvent harm the finish.

On a guitar? I'd just wipe it down to get the sweat and skin oil off. You could apply a polish/cleaner but I see no real point.

[Simon Barden]

Dunlop 65 is a range of guitar care products from Jim Dunlop including lemon oil, a polish/cleaner and a spray wax. The polish/cleaner will be very mild and safe to use on just about any hard surface. Shouldn't have any issues at all on Tru-Oil as Tru-Oil fully polymerises once it has dried hard, so is quite similar to a polyurethane finish (if slightly softer than poly).

If you sanded down and polished up your Tru-Oil finish, the polishing compounds you used will have been far harder on the finish than guitar polish like Dunlop 65 will ever be.

If the Tru-Oil gets too worn over time, you can always just add a few more coats.

[ozzbike]

I use Doctor Ducks Axe Wax all over most of my guitars and basses. I use a waffle style micro-fibre cloth. A couple of drops only on the cloth...rub all over including strings. Let dry for a little bit then buff residue off. I find it is great as a moisturiser for the fretboard as well.