Lemon oil, a baby and A&E

Zoolooter

Well, after 10 hours at Alder Hey Hospital today, I've learnt that fretboard lemon oil contains Petroleum Distillates (PD). In the D'Addario stuff its actually 98% PD, so the doc informed me. News to me. Sam my 17 month old had managed to get the top of the bottle and swallow some. Realising this, after cleaning his mouth out I read the tiny small print which stated 'highly poisonous, can be fatal if swallowed'. Oh fuck, and obvious panic ensued. Ten hours of observation later, Sam is absolutely fine, no vomiting, seizures or breathing issues. So, two points here: I thought lemon oil was only made from, err....lemons. And, you'd think the words 'poisonous' and 'fatal' would be freakin bigger, and a hazard/poison symbol would be somewhere on the bottle.

I'm posting this just so people with kids are aware and, now that I know, it should be in a secure cupboard along with the bleach, etc.

Cheers

skunkwerx

Glad he's fine mate. 

Wonder what it tastes like.. 
Just had a look at my dunlop ultimate lemon oil. Says not to swallow n keep away from kids, but doesnt say its highly poisonous.. though presuming it is as per the do not swallow label. 

Its voc compliant, biodegradable and 'green' it says.. haha. 

Zoolooter

Cheers. Regarding taste, Sam just had a big smile on his face as usual. So hard to say really 

vale

Zoolooter said:

Ten hours of observation later, Sam is absolutely fine, no vomiting, seizures or breathing issues.

So, two points here: I thought lemon oil was only made from, err....lemons. And, you'd think the words 'poisonous' and 'fatal' would be freakin bigger, and a hazard/poison symbol would be somewhere on the bottle.

I'm posting this just so people with kids are aware and, now that I know, it should be in a secure cupboard along with the bleach, etc.

Cheers

great news to hear Sam is happy & healthy. & sympathy for your panic. must have been scary.

thanks for the heads up. i think there should be a skull & crossbones to make people take notice if any highly toxic product smells like food. small toys that smell of food are generally frowned upon for the same reason.

doesn't surprise me that it's only a couple of drops of lemon oil in a cheap petroleum base oil tho. i get it all the time in so-called ethical & green cosmetics (more a girl than boy thing obvs).
luckily IBS makes me a neurotic packaging reader but worth making this more widely known.

richardhomer

Presumably his digestive tract is now nicely conditioned?

Seriously though - my son did exactly the same thing at 18 months old - so much for child-proof lids! Luckily I stopped him before he actually consumed any but it taught me a lesson about where to store it in future.

nick_s

This is one of the reasons I stopped using it.  I much prefer products that are safer should an accident happen.  I recently bought (and am thoroughly enjoying) the Crimson Guitars fretboard restorative, and that is 100% natural, contains no petroleum products or silicones, and gives a finish and feel IMHO better than 'lemon' oil.

Glad the little man is ok.

Neil

That must have been traumatic, glad the little chap is OK.

A lot of people use food grade mineral oil on necks. Not only far cheaper but will do no harm if swallowed.

Motorhate

nick_s said:

This is one of the reasons I stopped using it.  I much prefer products that are safer should an accident happen.  I recently bought (and am thoroughly enjoying) the Crimson Guitars fretboard restorative, and that is 100% natural, contains no petroleum products or silicones, and gives a finish and feel IMHO better than 'lemon' oil.

Glad the little man is ok.

Just checked out Crimson Guitars fretboard restorative. Looks impressive. I'll have to get some and compare it with lemon oil.

Grumpyrocker

Glad to hear baby is okay. Had a couple of A&E scares myself with my kids - both sons had a febrile convulsion when they were babies.  A horrible experience. 

BloodEagle

Jeez, that must have been scary - glad to hear he's OK

guitars4you

Glad to hear Sam is fine - sold lemon oil for years but not aware of the PD and poisonous issues - Know valve oil for trumpets etc is and always passed on caution comments to buyers but never on lemon oil, so will remember this and pass on comments accordingly - Pity a youngster and parents, have to suffer a few hours before we knew

Sassafras

Just shows you how weird kids can be, they'll drink petroleum distillate but they won't eat their greens.

Glad he's none the worse for it.
FWIW the only oil I've used on a fretboard is a brazil rubbed over it although that could be harmful to someone with a nut allergy.

Maynehead

Well, that's one advantage of using linseed oil instead of "lemon" oil.

I'd be surprised if a couple of drops of mineral oil can kill though.

Voxman

Whew, that must have been scary!  Important thing is that Sam is OK & you've a story to tell him when he's older! 

There was a post recently with a link to a series of vids by the luthier who was refretting Kelly Jones' Gibson SG, and he spoke about lemon oil explaining there's no lemon in it, and that the lemon smell was artificially put in there.  I can't recall if he used the word poisonous but I think he did talk about what was in it!  

DLM

Zoolooter said:

In the D'Addario stuff its actually 98% PD, so the doc informed me.

Ah, clearly a connoisseur of the different brands.

Now the scare's over, call him up, maybe he'll let you see his PRS collection!

Modulus_Amps

Thanks for sharing, going to hide mine form my 2 year old  now

dogload

@Zoolooter I'm glad to hear it all worked out well.

it does smell nice though.

impmann

Yikes. Glad little chap's OK.

BenSirAmos

@adji is the d'Addario specialist, isn't he? Perhaps he could feed back to them

nick_s

Motorhate said:

nick_s said:

This is one of the reasons I stopped using it.  I much prefer products that are safer should an accident happen.  I recently bought (and am thoroughly enjoying) the Crimson Guitars fretboard restorative, and that is 100% natural, contains no petroleum products or silicones, and gives a finish and feel IMHO better than 'lemon' oil.

Glad the little man is ok.

Just checked out Crimson Guitars fretboard restorative. Looks impressive. I'll have to get some and compare it with lemon oil.

It's worth every penny, and the wait for delivery.  Best thing is, it's not going to be anywhere near as grim on the innards as the lemon oil

Sesh

Glad he's ok.

On the plus side you'll appreciate the improved tone of his singing voice next time he's doing 3am karaoke.