Care of "Clear Oak" forte II speakers

[John Chi-town]

O.K. for the past 22 years I have been useing nothing but "Endust" wax free furniture polish on my beloved '92 forte II. Would it be safe to apply some Murphys Oil soap for a good deep cleaning? Or would this "discolor" the finish? What are others using that have Klipsch clear oak finish?

Thanks in advance for the input.

Best regards,

John

[dtel]

Wish I could help, even with the same exact speaker in clear and a pair in oak oil I just wipe down the clear model like you do, I Oil the other pair, I don't know if there is anything else that can be done on a clear finish but to wipe off the dust, I was thinking the clear coat should stop you from deep cleaning ?

Edited January 14, 2014 by dtel

[John Chi-town]

Dtel;

Thanks for the input. I guess I will just continue with Endust. They are a pristine clean pair, just wanted to see if anyone else knew of something better to use.

Best regards,

John

[LarryC]

for the past 22 years I have been useing nothing but "Endust" wax free furniture polish on my beloved '92 forte II. Would it be safe to apply some Murphys Oil soap for a good deep cleaning? Or would this "discolor" the finish?

I'm firmly in the NO camp when it comes to Murphy's Oil "soap". Some, however, like the added contrast it adds to the grain. In my opinion, it almost ruined my 1962 mahogany lacquer K-horns.

There was a long thread on Murphy's 2 or 3 years ago. Gil McDermott weighed in strongly on the negative side, with his usual mastery of detail. You can probably search out the thread under "Murphy's."

Formby's Lemon Oil has freshened up mine for short periods of time.

I think this falls under "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[John Chi-town]

LarryC

Going on 48 years of "Life" now, and yet I ocassionaly need to be reminded about not fixing something that is not broke! LOL... Words of wisdom my friend.

Thanks for the response.

John

[WMcD]

Thank you for the kind words, Larry.

I did rattle on regarding the subject.

If you read the label, MOS is only for use on floors which have a thick, impervious coating of varnish. Your speakers are not like this at all. They have a thin, all too thin coating of lacquer.

You can Google or Wikipedia about "soap." As you will find, these are a combination of fats or oils (note "oil soap") and this does not sound too bad since we "oil" wood, and a caustic. The latter is typically sodium hydroxide, aka lye (oven cleaner) or similar potassium hydroxide.

It is not too removed from the facts that your bar of Ivory soap used in the tub is a combination of what you trim off your steak mixed with oven cleaner. Chemical engineers here can amplify. Soap removes dirt because it has an end which likes water and other end which likes oils. But it makes skin slippery because the caustic destroys it.

The bottom line is that if you have an oak floor with a good coat of varnish, then you can use MOS if the varnish is very thick and the stuff can't get to the wood. But this is very much like using a bar of Ivory mixed with water.

On the other hand. When you use MOS or a bar of Ivory, you are pretty much using oven cleaner on your very fine hardwood which is not very well protected by the thin coat of lacquer.

Again, it is not very far from the facts that when you use MOS, you might as well lather up a bar of Ivory and apply it to your speakers. No one would do that, but it is essentially what is going on if you use MOS.

Peace,

WMcD