Klarinet Archive - Posting 000031.txt from 2005/02

From: "Rommel John Miller" <rjmiller@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] loose barrel rings
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 21:54:18 -0500

On an E-11 I recently purchased from Clarinuts.com I noticed that the ring
around the tenon on bell was loose. This caused me a good deal of concern.

While visiting the site of Larry Naylor I learned of a good way to
revitalize the shrunken wood to its appropriate size.

Mr. Naylor recommends and lauds the benefits of organic bore oil, but I have
found that good old virgin Olive Oil is just as good. Olive oil afterall is
an organic substance and hence since wood is also, why would you want to
introduce anything synthetic onto a prized Clarinet's wood structure?

After appling a damply soak home-made cotton hankerchief swab with olive oil
I ran it through the entire length of the Clarinet, I did this for several
consecutive days. It was amazing to look down the barrel and to see it a
gleeming with a fresh application of oil only to see it the next day dry,
and to notice that the wood absorbed the oil. Over a period of oiling
everyday for a week the offensively loose ring on the bell tightened up.

Now you may ask, how can a female joint absorb oil? One way is to keep the
clarinet in a fully assembled state and allow it to sit on a clarinet stand
in a safe and out-of-the-way place. This will permit the oil to dissipate
through osmosis through every fiber of the wood. Also gravity worked in
this case as with osmosis and the low point on the clarinet being the bell,
while the oil was being absorbed it also tended to migrate in the direction
which gravity forced.

Larry Naylor's websites has some very good documents on his findings using
an organic bore oil rather than the commercially produced and synthecially
based petroleum oils.

I will never put anything but olive oil down the bore of any of my wooden
clarinets, or other wooden instruments for that matter ever again, for what
can be better and more beneficial for thirsty wood than to coat it in a
nice, mellow naturally produced oil?

Mr. Naylor's website: http://www.naylors-woodwind-repair.com/ also tells the
story concerning an old mis-shapen clarinet whose bore was more oval than
round. It was this clarinet that convinced Mr. Naylor to try organic oils
to restore it. IT WORKED! Check out his website!

All the best,
Rommel John Miller
308 Dale Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21206-1219

410-668-4784

rjmiller@-----.net

"When you do things right,
people won't be sure
if you did anything at all."
-- Futurama

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