Naptha, Alcohol

[John Bertotti]

So this topic has been beaten before but I am still in the dark as to which to use when. Is it dependent on the type of wood or how much oil it contains? I have some very oily resiny indian rosewood. Which would clean it better? Perhaps I should stick with naptha I am sure it will work. Do any of these have an adverse effect on the area to be glued? Thanks John

[sunburst]

Actually, to clean rosewood to glue I prefer acetone.
Any of them will probably work, but alcohol is more of a polar solvent while the others are more nonpolar. (Sorry, a little vestigial organic chemistry from back in the college days.)
If it is oil you're trying to dissolve, you want a nonpolar solvent.
Pure acetone evaporates completely rather that leaving residue. Naptha probably does too, but it's so much slower that it makes me feel like things aren't as clean.
Acetone will dissolve a lot of oils, and quite a bit of water too.
AND - I hate the smell of naptha and it tends to hang around for a while.

[Michael Lewis]

I have had better results gluing cleanly cut surfaces without using any solvent. The solvent will bring residue to the surface which can contaminate the joint. If you are gluing very resinous woods there is a specially formulated epoxy made by Smith in Richmond Calif. It is also sold through LMII. By the way, Brazilian rosewood glues well with hide glue.