I have used almond oil for my wooden flute. I have recently heard that warm flax oil is superior in at least two ways; it is better absorbed by hard woods, it does not need to be applied so frequently. Any views would be very welcome.
Splendidisolation
Flax or linseed (they are the same thing) oil is absorbed pretty quickly by woods and penetrates very deeply, perhaps someone more science minded than myself has some research to back up whether it is absorbed better than almond. Linseed will polymerize (dry and harden without fully evaporating) whereas almond will evaporate over time, linseed will add a layer of protection when built up over time this is why it is used as a finish in various forms of wood working, almond will not. I had to stop using almond due to an allergy and usually like to use a blend of linseed, olive, and jojoba; olive leaves a glossy sheen, jojoba provides really great conditioning and long lasting shine and linseed to seal it all in and add protection over time. Vitamin E can be used in my blend but all three of these oils have very long shelf-lives so rancidity shouldn’t be a problem although almond should be blended with vitamin E so it does not become rancid. Linseed on its own will leave more of a matte finish so if you want shin, mix with a shinier oil or coat it with carnuba or similar wax after applying.
All this being said any of the above mentioned oils are fine it really comes down to personal preference. Linseed is vastly superior to almond for me because almond irritates my skin!!!
To polymerize or not, that is the question, i.e. that is probably the most important question.
I guess a polymerizing oil might give you extra protection or maybe sealing. But, wouldn’t it build up over time?
Worrying about that, I would personally choose an oil that doesn’t harden, but maybe I am being over-cautious.
What do the flute makers with long-term experience recommend?
As a recorder player I wouldn’t want a polymer coat on the inside of my instrument, which is why I don’t even consider linseed oil. Almond oil is traditional, but half of France uses olive oil, and as that’s something I don’t need to buy extra, I just use some of my salad oil on my recorders.
I use the Doctor’s products like this oil here: http://doctorsprod.com/cbuy/supplies/wood-care
It is formulated for clarinets, grenadilla, which is the same as the blackwood we use for our flutes. I use it on my boxwood flute as well occasionally. I have a Selmer clarinet from the late forties that I use it on and it looks like brand new.
+1 for kmag… I use The Bore Doctor on my Gallagher and have for many years.
Pat
And, as we know, a fair number of people don’t oil flutes, except perhaps during
breaking in. And there are makers who advise them in that direction.
Not saying anyone in particular is right. Part of the charm of playing
wooden flutes is the lore.
A polymerized vegetable oil finish is not the same thing as the petro-chemical polymer, not even in the same ball park! It takes many many many coats of raw linseed oil to form a barrier and it takes week to fully dry, over the course of years there will be a thin layer of protection but it doesn’t happen over night. It does not take much linseed oil to get the job done either. I personally only oil my flutes 2-3 times a year except during the break in period. It should be noted to use pressed/raw linseed oil DO NOT use boiled linseed oil as it is processed with all sorts of nasty chemicals to make it dry faster.
I don’t like commercial bore oils as these usually contain mineral oil and I try to avid the use of petro-chemicals in all aspecst of life as much as possible (this will leave a layer of polymer like substance on the inside of the bore which doesn’t evaporate!). On the care instructions for my Casey Burns Bb he recommends using a commercial bore oil or Gamblin linseed oil, I opted to add the linseed to my olive/jojoba blend and am really happy with how it works.
Still comes down to personal preference though, I like my blend and am not likely to change it because I have a tree nut allergy so can’t use almond and try to minimize my use of petro-chemicals so I don’t want to use commercial bore oils. I am not worried about linseed polymerizing because it takes so many coats to do so and so long to dry and I use such a small amount plus my wooden flutes are box- and dogwoods so a little bit of sealant isn’t a bad thing on these two more porous woods.
EDIT: Looking at the Bore Doctor website they claim to not use mineral oil but also don’t list ingredients so we don’t know exactly what’s in it.
Today wasn’t the best of days but I logged in here and it was great to see so much good advice. Thank you all so very much.
Splendidisolation
You are right, due to your allergies it would be important to understand what “plant oils” are being used.
…
(Caveat; I’ve bought Bore Doctor to use on my flute once I receive my flute. That being said, I haven’t used it yet.)
I like Bore Doctor conceptually. In so much as I like inter-disciplinary studies… and for someone to apply Research Chemistry to caring for wooden instruments sounds like a great idea. Due to my own incredulity and curiosity, I did a little digging… this is what I found and a summary of my thoughts…
Apparently, the company is owned and ran by L. Omar Henderson; Omar worked with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as a Research Chemist from 1983 - 2010. During that time, he was playing the clarinet and would visit museums during his travel in order to learn about instrument preservation. Eventually, he sought to apply his knowledge of Chemistry to treating woodwinds. Around the 2000s, he started making and selling Bore Doctor and still sells it today.
In addition to Bore oil; he also sells cork grease and a number of different items. The Bore Oil and Cork Grease are both plant based oils (that is, plant based oils as opposed to mineral oils or petroleum based oils) with the intention of caring for the wood and cork as plant products. Based on what he has written elsewhere and my communication with him, he has kept samples of each batch of bore oil since he started making it and tests it each year to examine its properties.
In searching for reviews, I have only found positive reviews. I was able to find some positive reviews from 2007 here: http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=261480&t=261480
Also various people over the years on Chiff & Fipple have also felt positive regarding it:
http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50559&start=0
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/live-session-recordings-from-ctms-solstice-festival-online/76/1
In fact, I haven’t really found any negative remarks about it.
In addition to that, I tried to find out if he was really a research chemist, and as far as I can tell, he really is. I found articles written at ResearchGate.net which are attributed to L. Omar Henderson. The documents posted span the entire time that he claims to have worked for the CDC and the descriptions of the documents certainly sound like someone who works for the CDC studying lipids. https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/39274233_L_Omar_Henderson/publications
Finally, I also found the following webpage where Omar gives a bit of description regarding the oil and cork grease: http://www.clarinetpages.net/stuff-phil-recommends/oiling-wood-oiling-keys-swabbing/bore-doctor-oil
I should have mentioned - I only oil my John Gallagher flute a couple of times per year. Even then, very little soaks in - probably due to the age of the flute (about 15 years). I could probably get by with about once per year, actually. I do, however, put a little oil below the embouchure hole (where my chin touches) every couple of weeks.
Pat
Quote from FineWoodworking website which is a respected American woodwork magazine.
“Linseed oil is available in several forms. Unrefined, it’s called raw linseed oil, which is rarely used on wood because it dries so slowly. Finishers long ago discovered that by boiling the oil, the resulting product was thicker and dried more quickly. Even though linseed oil that has actually been boiled is still available — it’s called heat-treated or polymerized oil — most of the boiled linseed oil sold these days is raw oil that has been mixed with chemical additives to speed up the drying time. For wood finishing, you should use only boiled linseed oil.”
http://www.finewoodworking.com/2004/11/01/selecting-a-finish
I use just a standard bore oil made for woodwinds, don’t know the brand offhand, probably mineral oil?
After the initial break-in, I’ve settled on a routine of oiling my blackwood Windward flute twice a year, near the Equinox. That’s when the house gradually changes from higher to lower humidity during the year, and back again. Oiling more often than twice a year doesn’t seem to be useful, because so little oil is actually absorbed when I swab it out the next day. I do use a Q-tip to oil the end grain on the tenons and the tone hole/embouchure edges. That seems to soak in, so this may be the main benefit of a twice-yearly oiling on this particular flute.
I live in a fairly mild climate (Pacific Northwest USA). If I lived in a dry climate like Arizona I’d probably pay a lot more attention to oiling and house humidity control.