I’m an owner of 2 Casey Burns flutes, including a gorgeous boxwood one (that I miss terribly), and I use this:
I put it on the inside and on the outside. I don’t know if the outside specifically requires it, but the little piece of rag I use is usually still oily after doing the inside, so why the heck not oil the outside too?
Also, I keep my little tiny 3 inch by 1 inch piece of rag in a plastic baggie so that I can reuse any oil still contained in it. This helps stave off the expense of the bore oil. That bottle cost me about $8. I haven’t used it all up yet, however, despite owning 2 flutes now, one for almost a year and one for a quarter of a year. And because Casey says he’ll lecture people who don’t oil their flutes, I try to do it frequently. Doesn’t seem worth the hassle to look for an alternative that might not have good results when a perfectly good product exists that is known to work.
This advice is given by a beginner whose clips demonstrate a lack of good embouchure and an underwhelming proficiency in flute playing. Take the advice with the appropriate-sized grain of salt.
I have a delrin flute and was advised by the maker to oil it - this surprised me somewhat because I thought that oiling was only required with wooden flutes. He advised me to use either almond oil or paraffin wax. I would add that his advice was given to me, not to protect the flute, but to improve the sound.
Maybe it was a placebo effect, but I have to admit that it did sound better (to me) when I oiled it with almond oil.
Any other owners of delrin flutes with similar experience?
It just gets stranger and stranger out here. I have been told by various makers, players, and kibitzers to:
Use bore oil and a) oil the inside and outside of the flute, or b) just oil the inside of the flute.
DONT use bore oil because it contains too many volatile hydrocarbons and can wreck a flute over time.
Use anything from Jojoba oil to walnut oil to olive oil to almond oil, and oil either the inside, the outside, or both sides.
Don’t waste your time oiling the flute, just keep it humidified and play it regularly.
Use linseed oil, don’t use linseed oil, wipe on, wipe off, “If you look at linseed oil you will invalidate your warranty”, and so forth.
Use a drying oil, use a non-drying oil, use Castrol, etc. and then justified by every reason on earth.
Oil daily, oil weekly, oil monthly, make sure the bore is dry, make sure the bore has an oil film in it.
I have met flute players who treat theirs like gold, others who say “what is oil?” and others who do it like spring cleaning, haphazardly now and then. With all this variation, I only know of one flute player who has personally experienced a crack, and that was from dropping it.
Do we have any definitive answers to this question of “to oil or not to oil” or is everybody basing their answers on suggestions that they have picked up over time? I would expect that the makers would have the best information out there, but their suggestions are all over the map, just like everybody else’s. Is there any hope for a definitive answer to this question?
I think Ronbo summed it up nicely. People are doing every damn thing under the sun to maintain their Flutes, the results are they all seem at least playable.
Ronbo’s observation reminded me of some lyrics from a Bob Dylan song…
…" to each his own it’s all unknown if Dogs run free"
well I can see here from the window my Beagle Brownie is running around like a maniac in the backyard Barking…let me quick run into the kitchen and get some Prune juice to oil down my Flute before he comes in!
