Furniture polish, or similar ?

[VictorLouis]

I've tried searching here about this topic, but perhaps I'm just not having much luck. I'm wondering if a quality furniture polish would be good for protecting the finish, the fretboard, and removing finger acids from the strings?

I did find one person posting here about "Ballistol". It's a German product designed in WW-1 for soldiers to have a one-step system to protect the wood stock, and blued steel parts of their rifles.

[Steven Stone]

Most commericial wood polishes would not be good for a mandolin, especially a varnish finished one.

I use water on a damp clean soft cotton cloth, Legend, and Jubilee polishes on my mandos.Both Legend and Jubilee are made specifically for acoustic instruments with varnish finishes and work VERY well.

Don't use anything with Silicon, wax, or oils as these will do far more harm than good.

[357mag]

Ill take a shot at this and say that Ballistol is from the same era that cosmoline was, and still is used to some degree on military weapons. A petroleum based grease that works fine on battle rifles. Mandolins might be a different story. I know that commercial wood wax(Pledge) is petroleum based with citrus oils as a cleaning agent and actually has a drying affect on wood that is at all porous.
On any gunstock I have ever owned going back 50 years, and later to include musical instruments, all I do is wipe them down with a soft,slightly damp cloth. The only exception would be an article that would be exposed to weather. Then I use a light application of pure carnauba wax and buffed out with a soft cloth. There may be some new space age stuff around, but the rule of thumb for me has always been no chemicals and nothing oil based on any fine wood regardless of finish.

[Jasper]

Two things...clean it with a mild guitar cleaner/polish. #I use one by Dunlop, but I understand the Gibson one is very mild and good also. #Second, the folks at Mid-Missouri sent me a small bottle of orange oil for the fret board and recommended I use it no more than once a year to keep the wood from drying out. #I lived in Ohio at the time and the humidity was low, especially during the winter with gas heat. #Go to your local music store and get some stuff for instruments...don't use furniture polishes unless you plan to turn your mando into a footstool. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Dan Adams]

Freeman's furniture polish. No silicones or waxes. dan

[BigJoe]

The very best cleaner for your musical instruments is a DAMP soft, terry rag. Not wet. Wipe it with the damp rag gently until the dirt is removed. Then dry it carefully with a soft cotton rag and that should be sufficient. If it needs polish use one without silicone. I recommend Gibson guitar polish simply because I know it is safe where many guitar polishes are not. If it is a varnish instrument I recommend Jubilee polish. Dave Harvey makes it and it is available from him. These hints will keep your instrument clean, protected, and free from damage from polishes that can damage your finish. Different finishes respond to different chemicals. What will work on a pac rim with a poly finish could rip the finish off a nitro or varnish finish.