The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

RE: Bore Oil

Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-12-19 17:41

While Doctor Henderson's coments are self-sufficient, here's a thought that applies in my case: It may apply to you, too, if your instrument experiences wide swings in humidity. My home is on the edge of the Mojave Desert, where the relative humidity can reach single digits for long periods. So wood instruments here are exposed to extremely low humidity much of the time. Then when a dry instrument is taken into a playing environment which may be humidified, or when the humidity becomes extremely high as occasionally happens, the poor wood which has been almost desiccated absorbs lots of water. It is a matter of concern that the dimensional changes due to such absorption and release of water on a large scale may damage the wood.

When much water leaves the wood, a good response is to replace it with an appropriate non-volatile oil. If the cell walls and interstitial spaces are full of oil (along with, of course, that residual water that will not leave unless you bake the instrument -- not a good idea), water will not be absorbed so readily and the instrument will have greater dimensional stability. Another benefit (albeit one which you should never depend upon) is that wood so treated will have a lesser tendency to crack explosively due to contained water expansion when its temperature drops low enough (it does not have to freeze).

Yes, it appears that Buffet does *not* recommend oiling their wood instruments at all until a great deal of time has passed. I have heard no explanation whatever as to how this can be sensible under all conditions. Simply put: I do not believe that properly oiling a Clarinet can cause it to crack, but failure to oil appropriately just might.

In passing, peanut oil is a legume oil, somewhat similar to soybean oil. Clarinets are made from trees, and tree seeds come from trees. So it would seem that tree-seed oils might be a better choice than legume oils for oiling a Clarinet. Some examples are Almond (used by Forest Aten as I recall), Olive (which I used in the past), and Walnut. But I now use and suggest "Bore Doctor�" oil. This oil is selected for specific characteristics and has special additives to retard oxidation/rancidity, among other things. It is designed and produced by Doctor Omar Henderson, a sponsor of this Bulletin Board. It is definitely more expensive than ordinary oils, but I believe it's well worth it. I do not suggest using it on salads.

Regards,
John

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics

Author

Date

Bore Oil new

Morrigan

2002-12-18 12:38