Roughly 3 parts naphtha to 1 part oil. You should see rust coming off right away. I don't let em soak too long.

Wipe em off, if they're still rusty do it again. When done , drop em in some straight acetone, this will degrease them.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

thanks for that, where do i buy acetone, like what kind of shop?hardware?pharmacy? is there another use for it? ie naphtha and lighter fluid

Acetone has many, many uses. It is in nail varnish remover, for example.

You can probably buy an acetone brush cleaner at the hardware store. If not, search for suppliers to people making stuff from fibreglass (boats, surfboards, car bodies, etc). Where you can buy fibreglass you can usually find acetone in bulk too.

Or many other light industrial processes too numerous to name, who's suppliers you can Google. I buy it from a supplier of materials to sculptors - but unless you live near me that one ain't much use to you...

Put the lid back on tight after use, or next time you look it will have all evaporated...

Cheers - C

thanks for all your help guys, specially ceri and twelvebar, but one last question, is it absolutely necessary to remove the height adjustment screws from the saddles when i do this? becase theres no rust near them, the rust is just on the saddle body. so could i get away with soaking the saddles with the hieght screws still attached?

damn it, i bought some zippo fuel for naptha, however, i think they have changed their formula and they now use "synthetic isoparrafinic hydrocarbon". I dont think this is naphtha

Keeping my stuff clean, always makes it work right and last long. It is worth developing the good habit.

If it's naphtha it will say naphtha. That's why ceri and i always caution people to make sure, because it's not all the same stuff anymore. is what they use now a paraffin derivative? looks like it from the name. if Zippo uses a synthetic now, double check Ronson before buying, Zippo owns that too.




on the adjustment screws question: personally doing a deep clean i would go all out, however if you think they are ok, then skip it.

my last caution, is to keep your pieces organized and sorted out.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

What about the old stand by, Coca-Cola?

Does anyone know whether naphtha is shellite in Australia? I can't find naphtha here and google didn't help much except to suggest shellite (although I may have searched badly).

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Steve

I too was wondering that, because i cant find "naphtha" here in NZ either, theres only fuelite which is shellite rebranded for NZ. Wikipedia mentions Shellite under the Naphtha page so it seems like it is, but i would like confirmation before buying some.

Hi guys: naphtha is essentially just a solvent. It is available at my local hardware store, sold as brush cleaner / paint thinner. Any paint supplier will stock it:



Alternatively, if you want to pay more then Behlen, a well-known maker of products for instrument finishing, also supply it. I expect Behlen materials are available where you are: Google for suppliers.



Good luck - C

Ceri: A quick question, por favor. After being driven crazy by the "international man of mystery" and double-naught spy posts I must ask; were you born in 1964?

Hi GTG: good grief, well that's a leading question. 1964 was a very good year, to be sure. Just ask Forum user RussianRacehorse...

(Been doing some Googling, have we? )

Cheers - C

Thanks for being a good sport. I think I too have a touch of the OCD mentioned so often. A driven idiot. Well, cheers to you and yours. Glenn

Thanks Ceri - I'll go hunting during the week. My usual Sunday trip to the hardware store is out this weekend since its Mother's day. By the time I've seen my Mum, my wife's Mum and helped my son do something nice for his Mum I'm full from the extra meals and the shops are shut

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Steve