 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: classifan
Date: 2002-11-19 03:52
Hi, clarinets fans. I would just like to know where I can find some good quality almond oil for my wood clarinet. If there is a particular brand or retailer that has been good or excellent please tell me. Thank you.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: E
Date: 2002-11-19 04:02
Try a health food store or an import store like Pier 1 or World Market.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Willie
Date: 2002-11-19 04:50
Some folks use almond oil for the bores of their wooden horns as it is an oil from a tree like the material the clarinet is made of. Most of the bore oils sold in music stores is petroleum based and really isn't that good for the wood. However you might just want to check out the stuff the "Doctor" sells. He is a sponser here, I beleive and done quite a bit of research for the formulas to his oils and cork greases.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: nzdonald
Date: 2002-11-19 09:00
my advice- don't use Almond oil. When i was about 15 years old i was advised to use this by a local teacher with little experience or knowledge... but have never heard it repeated by anyone i respect as a player or teacher. My former experience is that it was not very good, this experience was confirmed a few years ago when i thought i might try it out again.... i believe that earlier postings on this board have more anecdotal evidence of it's ill effects.
recently i purchased some bore oil from the doctor and i was quite pleased with the result- i have never seen oil soak into the bore like this did, quite a noticible difference.
donald
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-11-19 10:52
I bought top quality almond oil many years ago, for a very high price.
It went rancid and stank. So did the clarinet.
I would definitelyi aim for "Bore Doctor" from "Doctor's Products", as Don says.
It may have some almond oil in it, but also other necessary materials, including the most reliable anti-rancidity stuff that a heap of research has found.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ralph G
Date: 2002-11-19 13:04
Hate to beat the "oiling an R13" horse again, but I assume the Doctor's stuff is kosher on Buffet horns?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2002-11-19 13:11
Thank you all for the kind words. I believe that everyone should make an informed choice about what care products they use on their horns. Almond oil comes in many incarnations and the properties for wood preservation depend on how the oil was processed and extracted. The almond oil sold in most grocery stores or health food stores for use in cooking is almond oil for cooking and not for wood preservation because most of the the other helpful compounds have been stripped away during processing. Almond oil without these natural compounds and added antioxidant(s) is extremely prone to oxidation and turning rancid.
A more expensive grade of almond oil is cold expellier pressed which is the type of almond oil that I use (exclusive source using my own extraction protocol), but the cold pressed cooking oil version is further processed and a little vitamin E added (just enough to keep it from going rancid in 6 months on the store shelf). Vitamin E even at higher concentrations does not keep almond oil from eventually oxidizing and turning rancid. Only with the other natural oil compounds and plant derived antioxidant systems is almond oil useful - not alone but in combination with other oils and ingredients - as a wood preservation agent. Disclaimer - I sell wood preservation oils.
The Doctor
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2002-11-19 13:48
In defense of almond oil (in case it needed defending), the folks at Pomarico recommended it to me for occasionally oiling their wood clarinet mouthpieces, and I do so from time to time. I got my bottle at one of the large supermarkets that carries imported and gourmet products. I'm not sure if Dr. Omar's excellent bore oil is really meant to go in one's mouth as it would if used on a mouthpiece --- Doc?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob
Date: 2002-11-19 13:59
just get on Google and search on it. I think drugstore.com is where I got mine. Heresay has it that only "sweet" almond oil should be used but what the hey do I know
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2002-11-19 20:31
Dear David,
Not a sales pitch but an answer to your question --- As indicated in my sales literature - the oils, emulsifiers, and antioxidants are non-toxic. I would also add -- obtained from natural sources, and they are, but some of the most potent prescription drugs are obtained from the plant kingdom. The taste is not bad - although once absorbed in the wood there is no appreciable taste to the wood - not like the heaping tablespoon of cod liver oil that my mother administered to us kids every week! I would say that I would drink it in public - a taste maybe - but the notable person (Yule Gibbins) that advertised the natural cereal and eating pine cones and berries from the woods on TV died an early and untimely death. Actually, grenadilla wood dust is a pretty potent allergen in some people.
The Doctor
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2002-11-19 21:45
Dr. Omar,
Thanks for the info, and no, you don't have to go on national TV and guzzle a quart of your bore oil to prove to us it's non-toxic ---- we believe you! I'm old enough to remember Euell Gibbons and his untimely death.......Given your assurances, I shall commence to use your fine product to oil my (two) wood clarinet mouthpieces and my wood tenor sax mouthpiece (an excellent French Lebayle).
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2002-11-21 09:24
A health food store should stock it. Linseed oil works just as well. I have a couple of antique horns from the 1870's which both work and have suffered no ill effects from almond oil and neither has my 1920 Heckel cor anglais or my modern horns. Just make sure you don't have a nut allergy.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-11-21 17:28
Mark Pinner wrote:
>
> Linseed oil works
> just as well. I have a couple of antique horns from the 1870's
> which both.
If you decide to use linseed oil, make sure you use "raw" vs. "boiled" linseed oil. "boiled" linseed oil is treated with chemicals to make it polymerize (turn plastic) after application.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob
Date: 2002-11-21 18:54
A caution on linseed oil: dispose of cloths saturated with it immediately outside the house...burning them is best. They will spontaneously combust under the right conditions. Years ago while painting the house I put a linseed oil rag in my pocket and got a warm surprise an hour later.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-11-22 14:06
I used raw linseed for some very classy wooden puzzles I mane. They went stinky and sticky within a couple of years. This stickiness now seems impossible to get rid of. The 'feel' of the puzzles is ruined. So it seems raw linseed can polymerize also, just slower.
I have a can of tung oil, which has gooey to the consistency of sticky, jellyish solid, half-set varnish. Polymderization again.
IMHO one is foolish to use either of these!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-11-22 14:08
Regarding the stinky polymerized linseed smell, as a technician I have smelt the same thing on many old clarinets, from an era where linseed was very commonly used on timber.
BTW I love the smell of FRESH raw linseed oil.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
