Is there any information or advice about oiling pipes? Should it be done by pipemakers or do people oil their pipes at home too?
and how often do you oil pipes?
Perhaps any of you can advice me when and how to oil pipes with which kind of oil?
Get a good quality natural bore oil and apply the thinnest coat you can. A pipe cleaner twisted around a long wooden kebab stick does the trick. Make sure to wipe any excess oil off the pipe cleaner before inserting up the bore.
RORY
Pipes don’t need to be oiled like flutes because they use dry air. I’ve known pipers who oiled the outside of their pipes with very light oils (Neets, grape seed, etc.).
I would not recommend oiling the bore unless your pipemaker gives his blessing.
I’d also be wary of oiling near keys as there is very little extra space in the key-slot and expansion of the wood might trap the key and prevent it from closing properly.
Don’t listen to PJ ,he’s got it all wrong. A well handled chanter will have a patina formed on the outside that will act as a barrier . the inside need some threatment. Heres the thinking behind the need to oil the bore.
Wood is a living material. Long after the tree has been felled, the wood continues to move and breathe. If left to its own devices, wood will eventually break down (with the aid of moulds and fungi) in a process we know as ‘rotting’.
Some woods are more resilient than others, and thus we choose these woods to make objects that will survive for long periods of time in extreme environments.
The Blackwoods (a large family of dense, hard woods) are most commonly used for woodwind instruments - with a close grain structure and good stability they lend themselves well to the manufacturing processes needed to make a complex turned and bored structure such as the body of a clarinet.
But even these very dense woods need care and attention if they are to survive in an environment that is usually wet and humid.
All woods contain oils, natural oils produced by the tree to protect and preserve the cellular structure of the wood itself, but as soon as the tree is felled the production of this life-giving oil stops. From then on the wood has to rely on the oils stored in its structure at the time it was cut down.
When wood loses its natural oils several things happen. The wood dries out - and if it remained dry then perhaps there would not be too many problems, but once the oils have gone it leaves the structure dry and sponge-like - and thirsty. What happens next is that the wood begins to absorb moisture from the atmosphere. This moisture provides the perfect breeding ground for the moulds and fungi whose job it is to break down the wood so that our planet is not littered with dead bits of wood.
The lack of oil has another effect. Water tends to be more volatile than oil - that’s to say that if you placed a drop of water beside a drop of oil on a plate of glass it’s the water that evaporates first. And this happens within the body of a wooden instrument too.
This constant cycle of evaporation and replenishment causes the wood to expand and contract. An excess of moisture or dryness will result in a greater movement of the wood when it dries or becomes wet. What then happens is the wood splits. This is all part of the natural process of rotting. Fine for an old log on the forest floor - but not very nice for your expensive clarinet.
So if the oils in the wood were kept ‘topped up’ it follows that these environmental swings can be minimised,
RORY
Did you quote this from a Clarinet maintenance manual Rory ?
The conditions that our Pipes have to contend with are very different from those of the mouth blown woodwinds. I do not advocate ‘oiling one’s pipes’. I recall that this was a popular pastime for Northumbrian pipers where the pads of the chanter keys would be oiled to help maintain airtightness ( all those little keys were the Devil to find any tiny air leak) but since the use of more ‘self leveling’ materials for making the pads this oily activity can be dispensed with.
I do oil the wood of the new sets that I make, as part of the finishing process. A small amout of Linseed oil is rubbed on the outsides prior to French Polishing.
Another tiny drop of oil that I apply to the ‘skate’ of the leaf spring of each key , for this I use a thin sewing machine oil, just a very small amount when the wood and the spring are new to let the surfaces learn to slide smoothly.
My 163 year old set of pipes has not been oiled in the 38 years I have owned them and they certainly are not mouldy or rotting. 
Yes.
RORY
Is there any information or advice about oiling pipes?
It’s spelled “uilleann” pipes.
Boom! here all week folks. Try the veal…
Seriously though,
If you live in a dry climate and are worried about the wood warping and think that oiling might help. Well it might.
But you have to remember all oil does is seal the timber and stops moisture escaping from or soaking in to the wood. So if the humidity was 70% in November and its now January and it’s 30% humidity then it’s too late for oiling. It’ll do nothing except make the wood look shiny and nice.
And oil ruins keypads.
Tommy
and beaches, sea birds and marine mammals. 
all right thanks alot for the info guess I don’t have to oil my “uilleann” pipes then. Sorry for not giving enough information by the way. I meant the outside of the pipes, not the bore or keys . I’ll just leave it as it is, thanks again!
If for some reason one is possessed to oil one’s pipes, consider putting a small piece of cling wrap under each keypad. Works a treat for protecting keypads on flutes. Also, almond oil is a very nice light oil for flutes, so might be an option for pipes.
BUT. I can’t see why anyone would want to oil their pipes – there’s enough that can go wrong already!
I have some almond oil so it was my intention to oil the outside/exterior of the pipes a bit with the almond oil. It was my intention to ‘clean’ the pipes a bit and to keep the wood healthy, however after reading all the info above I suppose it’s not really necessary.
At most, all I think you should ever need to do is go over it with a lightly dampened cloth if it starts looking dusty.
Depending on the wood the set is made of (some lighter or less dense woods. Ones that were oiled upon the actual construction of the set), it may actually be necessary to oil the interior of the bore every 7-10 years.
For example, you shouldn’t ever have to oil ebony… but applewood might need a cloth run through it every decade or so. Consult the pipe maker.
For example, you shouldn’t ever have to oil ebony
But you can if you want.
Mind you,
I have come across many sets of pipes and individual chanters made in Ireland and residing in the US that have bad internal warping. More than likely a result of the wood moving around from humid summers and very dry winters. The wood that these pipes were made from is of a very high quality and aged for a long time. So the maker did everything right.
Humidity levels in Ireland rarely drop below 70% so a well seasoned chanter made there might still contain a little moisture that might escape on arrival in, lets say, Nevada.
So in this case regular oiling might actually be recommended. It will seal the timer for a short amount of time and it’ll help to slow down the drying process. You’d have to be careful about the type of oil and your method of application. Just another reason to ‘shop local’!
Tommy
You’ve got to bear in mind that oiling the bore is a preventative measure . Just because your pipes have no visible.cracks does not mean they will not get any and when they do its too late.
One other thing that woodwind players seem to make a point of, is that oiling also improves the tone.
RORY
I agree with Geoff* - oiling seems more likely to do harm than good if done at home.
If the outside needs cleaning, a light rub with a paste wax like Briwax every year or so is what I recommend - depending in the finish used. Paste wax solvents could conceivably attack some finishes ( but not shellac ). You may dislike the resulting ‘feel’, and it’s not totally resistant to water.
*of course 
Could you expand a little on how it might do harm.
RORY
A wee bit of Spit on a handkerchief should be sufficient to remove sticky deposits from the outside of a chanter ( caused by sweat, Guinness dribbles or chip and burger grease etc. 
)… some pipers lick their fingers before playing to get a better seal, or feel, on the chanter , well that is what I thought it was for… but perhaps it depends what they’d been doing before hand ?
If the chanter is playing well and in tune with a ‘dry’ bore then oiling it may well cause it to swell internally and ruin the tuning /tone. Bearing in mind that in the throat region a very small change in dimension can cause significant alteration. When you have well respected pipemakers advising against it I can’t understand why anyone would want to argue otherwise.