Klarinet Archive - Posting 000183.txt from 2007/10

From: X-BakerBotts-MailScanner-tom.henson@-----.com
Subj: [kl] New Product for Oiling Grenadilla Wood
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:11:00 -0400

Hello All,

Judging by the subject line of this message I am sure that some will say
"not again", but I want to go on record as saying that I have been
fairly convinced by my own past experience that oiling the wood of a
clarinet did not really do much in the way of any real or lasting
benefit. In the past, I have experimented with oil immersion on some
older R-13's that I owned, but nothing that I would try on a newer
clarinet for sure.

This is also a subject for which there is little actual scientific
research and many myths about this remain even today. To confuse this
topic even more, the very companies that make woodwind instruments out
of Grenadilla wood are just about evenly divided themselves on the
benefits of oiling the wood with some recommending it and other saying
it is not needed. I have recently tested a new product on the market
which has changed my mind about this.=20

Many of you on this list have either heard of, met at one of the
Clarinet Fests, or even use products by The Doctor's Products, Omar
Henderson. He is also a sponsor of this list and I have been using some
of his products now for several years. Dr. Henderson has a unique
background as a research chemist for the Center for Disease Control in
Atlanta, Georgia. As a chemist and someone who loves clarinet, he has
used his background to research and develop new products for clarinet
and woodwinds that not only offer superior benefit, but will not harm
the wood or cork in any way.=20

This is not so for most of the petroleum based products. Especially so
because most all bore oil that is sold today is nothing but mineral oil
based. It's main function is to create a water barrier as it sits on the
surface of the wood. While it may repel water for a little while, when
it evaporates and dries it will leave a residue that can clog the pores
of the wood and do more damage than good. It has been my opinion that
using this type of oil can actually lead to cracks instead of preventing
them. The very use of a petroleum based bore oil also does not take into
account that keeping moisture out of the wood is counter productive and
very one sided. This type of bore oil actually works against the natural
process that wood has for maintaining this balance. For these reasons, I
have never advocated oiling a clarinet.

What Dr. Henderson has created is, in my opinion, a break through
product for Grenadilla wood. While he does have a product called Bore
Doctor which is a high grade oil made up of plant extracts, his new
product called Grenad-Oil goes one step further in that it is an exact
chemical synthesis of the natural oil found in Grenadilla wood. His
explanation about this product and how it works is shown below in
quotes. By the way, many of the clarinet makers use Linseed oil to treat
the wood as part of their manufacturing process. His response below was
to a woodwind maker as to why his product would work better for them
than the Linseed oil.=20

"Tom indicates that you currently may use linseed oil for Grenadilla
wood. I do not feel that this is the best oil to use because it will
polymerize over time and clog the pores of the wood. My own feeling is
that the wood should be allowed to "breathe" and use the natural
channels and pores in the wood to take up or give off moisture as is
done in living wood. The natural Grenadilla oil also acts as a water
buffer. Nature has designed plant oils to interact well with water -
otherwise the plant, tree could not live - and the special chemical
formula of plant oils allows them to bind to water and therefore keep a
natural water balance in the wood. These plant oils are very unique too
because the first layers of water are very tightly bound to the oil and
additional layers are not bound as tightly. When excess water is needed
to be lost these outer layers are easily removed and escape through the
channels and pores of the wood. As the wood becomes more dry it takes
more and more energy to remove the last layers of water so that some
water is always present unless the wood is totally dried out. Wood
needs a certain moisture content to maintain its resonant qualities and
these natural plant oils act to keep this water balance in the wood.
=20
There has always been a controversy about whether one should oil their
instrument and some of the old and famous teachers in clarinet advised
against oiling - possibly because they did not have access to the right
formulations of oils. In my job at the CDC our research facilities here
in Atlanta Georgia we are tasked to test human fluids, food, and water
for the presence of environmental toxicants - both man-made and natural
- very accurately and in minute amounts. Our instrumentation is some of
the most advanced and expensive in the world for performing these tests.
I decided that a good scientific project would be to analyze the oil in
Grenadilla wood and try to recreate this oil using the same building
blocks used in nature. Interestingly there has been little scientific
work done on Grenadilla wood and my library research only produced an
analysis of Grenadilla oil from the 1930's when scientific
instrumentation was very crude in comparison with today's instruments.
My first task was to get an accurate analysis of the oil using modern
techniques. The oil is composed of 97.4 % common fatty acids found in
all plant oils (although Grenadilla oil has a unique and very different
composition of rare fatty acids than most other plant oils like almond
oil, etc.) and 2.6% trace elements and exotic compounds. Using purified
fatty acids I am able to recreate exactly the oil found in Grenadilla
wood. In order to faithfully and fully recreate the oil I decided to
extract the trace elements from real Grenadilla wood sawdust and add
them to the recreated oil. The end product I call Grenad-Oil and an
analysis of Grenad-Oil and natural Grenadilla Oil by sophisticated
technology called Tandem Mass Spectrometry (the gold standard now in
chemical analysis) yield exactly the same content of all elements in
each. I have just introduced this Grenad-Oil in the last month. The oil
is very expensive to produce because of the purity of the compounds used
and the 2.6% trace element component too is difficult and expensive to
produce."

Dr. Henderson's explanation about how the wood works to maintain a
moisture balance was something I had not heard explained in such simple
terms before and helped me to understand better the natural process that
wood goes through to maintain this balance and the function that the
natural oil in the wood plays in the way it holds and releases moisture.
Therefore, the natural oil acts as an exchange agent between the wood
and the external atmosphere to maintain a moisture balance. As the wood
looses this oil content over time, it becomes harder for it to maintain
this balance. (I also wonder if this would affect the ability of the
wood to expand and contract as needed to adjust to the external
atmosphere).

As part of his introduction of this new product, he sent samples of the
Grenad-Oil to some well known repair shops to get their feedback
firsthand. He told me that he did not receive a single negative response
to their testing of this product. He then invited some of his customers
to test a sample of this product and give him their feedback. Being
skeptical, I decided not to test it on my clarinets first, but to test
it on 2 small Grenadilla bells that had been made into key chains while
on a visit to Morrie Backun's shop during the last Clarinet Fest in
Vancouver.

Our instructions were to apply a small amount of the oil to the wood and
let it soak in overnight. These 2 small bells were a medium to dark
brown color due to never having been stained or treated, so I felt this
would be a good test. I treated only 1 of the bells and then compared it
the next day to the other one. To my surprise, the treated bell took on
an almost black color as if I had stained the wood. The instructions
also said we could apply additional coats if we liked, letting them soak
in over night until some oil remained on the surface of the wood the
next day, which is an indication that the wood will not absorb any more.
Finally, we were instructed to take a soft cloth and buff off any
remaining oil and then examine the surface of the wood. Not only did the
wood take on a black color, but even after buffing off all remaining
oil, the wood had a depth and shine to it like one had used a high grade
stain on the wood and sealed it. Granted, it was not a high gloss shine,
but when compared to the other bell blank that I had it was night and
day. It was like looking at a finished clarinet vs. one that had not
been finished. I would be more than happy to share with anyone offline
the pictures that I took of the difference. Even though the pictures are
not great, you can still see the difference clearly.

Next, still being the skeptic, I let the treated bell sit out in the
open air on my desk for several weeks. I fully expected that the oil
would eventually evaporate and the wood return to the dull brown color
of the non-treated bell. This did not happen. The wood still felt silky
to the touch also. Clearly, this oil does more than just sit on the
surface of the wood and then evaporate.=20

Having the courage now to try this on my real clarinets, I took the
opportunity to take my Bb apart to clean the keys while I was at it and
to prevent any oil getting on the pads. I used a recorder swab which
looks similar to a type of cleaning tool used to clean fire arms. This
tool however, has a plastic tip over the metal end to protect the bore
from getting scratched. I soaked the end of the swab in a little of the
oil and then coated the inside of the bore. I then took a Q-tip and also
treated all the tone holes and then finished off with small cotton cloth
to treat the entire outside of the wood. You can also use Q-tips to get
into the sockets of the barrels, lower joint, and bell. I let it sit
over night and then came back the next day to check. The bore had dried
as well as most of the outside. All sockets and end grain were
definitely dry. I applied another very light coat and let it sit again
over night. This time, a light coat of oil remained on all surfaces. I
then used a silk clarinet swab to remove any excess oil from inside the
bore. I also buffed the bore by dropping the cord through to the other
end and the using my foot to hold the end of the cord while I slowly
moved the clarinet body up and down a few times. I would only recommend
doing this if you have a silk swab as cotton would be too course of a
material and might dislodge fibers into the bore. Silk will not leave
any fibers behind if it is of good quality and is clean.

I then used a soft cloth to clean up the outside. I used clean Q-tips
that had been dampened in water to clean up the tone holes and remove
any oil residue. Finally, I used a soft bristle tooth brush to clean the
posts of any surface debris. I finished buffing the outside of the
bodies with a horse hair silver brush from Hagerty Silversmiths. This is
a great brush to clean off dust and debris from the surface and will not
scratch anything.

I cleaned the keys and then reassembled the clarinet. I was blown away
by the difference in the way it played. Mind you, I have cleaned my
clarinet before and know how much of a difference it can make, but the
thing I noticed most was the sound of the clarinet was more alive, more
resonant. I could actually feel the clarinet come alive in my hands and
the response was amazing. This, is addition to the wood looking like it
had just come out of the factory.=20

I then treated the bore of my A clarinet and the outside without taking
it apart (carefully). I wanted to see if I could get the same results
from just oiling the bore. I'm happy to report that I did. The resonance
and response were improved on my A clarinet as well. I am now convinced
that this product has done what no other bore oil I have ever tested has
and that is to actually make a positive difference in the sound. I am
also happy to report that the aesthetic benefit to the wood is just as
positive. The wood has taken on a depth and subtle shine that makes it
look brand new again. To my great surprise, the wood also smells like a
new clarinet. I know that sounds ridiculous, but my clarinet smells as
if it is new. Dr. Henderson told me that others had also reported this
to him as well.

Disclaimer: I am not getting paid to make these statements and am simply
a happy customer. No bore oil in the world is going to take a beat up
clunker and turn it into an incredible clarinet. All things being equal,
it is assumed that your clarinet is already in perfect playing condition
to remove any possibility that the improvement you hear is mechanical in
nature.

I am now curious if anyone else on this list has tested this new bore
oil and if so, what has your experience been. Oh, and the clarinet maker
that I mentioned earlier, they have asked that a sample be sent to them
for testing. They are very interested.

Tom Henson

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