I recently acquired a Bleazey Boxwood (Fantastic critter! BTW, very sweet, classic “buttery tone” and superb response, fairly loud when pushed, etc, etc. etc.) and am curious as to whether anyone knows if Grape Seed Oil would be good for boxwood.
The flute has been well broken in, but was oiled with a different material (Henderson’s Bore Doctor) in the past.
Two questions:
Is Grape Seed a good choice to begin with?
And, are there any issues with switching to a new substance (any) when something else has already been used quite a bit?
The only thing I remember about grape seed oil was (from aromatherapy/massage oils) was that is was a good choice for not going rancid … I’d think it would be equivalent to Almond oil.
Can’t answer your other question about mixing oils.
I don’t think there should be a problem switching oils. I’ve bought at least a couple of flutes that had been treated with linseed oil by the makers (including Bleazey). I always use an olive/almond mixture and haven’t had any problems.
I’ve read good things about Grapeseed oil and have uesed it. It does well but seems to be lighter than Almond Oil.
Chas said:
I don’t think there should be a problem switching oils. I’ve bought at least a couple of flutes that had been treated with linseed oil by the makers (including Bleazey). I always use an olive/almond mixture and haven’t had any problems.
What is the "olive/almond mixture you use? I’ve heard good things about mixing them. I’m a lover of olive oil but never used it in my flutes. Comments?
It was promoted by the late great Glenn Schultz. It’s 4 parts extra light olive oil to 1 part almond oil. He was quite adamant about the extra light part, not sure why. I’ve used this mixture for several years; I especially liked it when I had sandalwood-scented almond (massage) oil.
I’ve always been tempted to give grape seed oil a try, just because I think it sounds elegant. But that’s not a very good reason, so I haven’t.
I heard somewhere (I think on some flutemaker’s website) that you shouldn’t switch from a mineral bore oil to a vegetable based one or something…ah, found it! From Clive Cattreral’s site:
It is usually not a good idea to mix vegetable and mineral oils, so if you are going to use a mineral oil for your bore then don’t mix and match with a vegetable oil.
Extra virgin olive oil is a cold press straight from the olives and contains lots of nutrients and solid particles that will make your flute go manky. Very good and healthy for eating though.
Extra light olive oil is filtered and very purified, contains very little nutrients and is usually from the last extraction of the olives. Not good or healthy for eating but very useful for other things like oiling wood.
