Bore Oil + Clarinet Barrel + 7 Months + *Band Saw*

[Airflyte]

Ok, I do find the vids from Earspasm Music entertaining and informative, but this particular video is just plain odd!

He soaks a wooden barrel for over half a year and then cuts it in half to see how much oil has been "absorbed". Comments are typical youtube funnyish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fmr1VcIFD4

[Windsong]

What rubbish--in so many ways.  Krikey.

I appreciate you sharing, though I think this fella ought to stick to Flight of the Bumblebee.

[DaveLeBlanc]

So he's trying to prove that bore oil does not penetrate into the wood, right?

Well, since oil does not evaporate, why does oil applied to the outside of a wood body disappear? I wonder where it goes if it's not being absorbed into the wood.

[Windsong]

Precisely, and when a clarinet is thirsty, offer it a drink.

As hosts and stewards of, essentially, our other voices, I believe it is our responsibility to offer that drink with regularity.  What is regularity?  The answer, of course, is environment-dependent but it ought never be considered optional or unnecessary.

Anyone who has performed a proper restoration knows just how much oil a dry clarinet can draw in.  A really dry clarinet can make oil disappear faster than brake cleaner on a rotor in summertime.

When I oil the bores of my clarinets, (Which is 2-3 times a year on my regular players and once or twice a year on infrequent players or non-ops) I also wipe down the barrel and bell completely, as these are prone to cracking.  I let my clarinets breathe new outside air in warmer months, as well.

I find the oiling process to be an essential part of preventive maintenance, and firmy believe any claim made to the contrary, whether overtly or coyly, is derelict.

[Dibbs]

I have vacuum impregnated boxwood with tung oil.  When you cut that you can easily see how far it penetrated.  About 5 or 6mm.  With a finished piece of clarinet that's probably all the way through.  It will polymerize to resin over time and hopefully stabilise the wood. 

I would expect less penetration in blackwood since it's denser and even less just soaking without the vacuum.  But the stuff's black.  It's going to be hard to see anything.

In any case you don't need it to penetrate very far to form a barrier to slow the effects of changes in humidity.

[Airflyte]

Thanks for the responses. I knew this forum was generally "pro-oil" !

As a side note, what do you people think of using " Burt's Bee's Wax" to condition the outside surface of a clarinet?
Ingredients are as follows,

* beeswax
* coconut oil
* sunflower seed oil
* peppermint oil
* lanolin
* tocopherol
* rosemary leaf extract
* soybean oil
* canola oil
* limonene

[mechanic]

Ok, I do find the vids from Earspasm Music entertaining and informative, but this particular video is just plain odd!

He soaks a wooden barrel for over half a year and then cuts it in half to see how much oil has been "absorbed". Comments are typical youtube funnyish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fmr1VcIFD4

A few years ago, American Science and Surplus was selling what they called black wood tubes.  I picked up a rough cut bell.  Since I had bit of spare time I decided to put oiling to the test. 
1.  Went out to the band saw and cut 3 rings from the top of the bell.  If you watch the video, at around the 4 minute mark they are cutting the barrel and you see a puff of smoke.  That's the blade heated to the point of scorching the wood.  This stuff is seriously hard.
2.  Took before picture.  17 year old digital camera, and not that great of one even then. See first picture.
3.  Using grape seed oil (inexpensive and plentiful) I swabbed 1 inside and out, gave one a bath soaking in a canning jar, and the third I gave a bath in a canning jar and vacuum sealed the jar (used my wife's food saver vacuum sealer).  The 2 in the bath I let be and the first one got swabbed every few hours as it seemed to dry.  13 times in about 40 hours. 
4.  Took them out, dried them and instead of scorching them on the band saw again, I snapped them in half.  Just staring at them it was hard to tell if it really did anything.  So I grabbed the bell and back to the band saw.  Cut another ring and snapped it in half for comparison. 
5.  Pictures 2-swabbed, 3-bath and 4-vacuum, were taken with an iPhone, and on it's own, slightly overexposed.  The oiled halves are top and bottom, un-oiled in the middle.   


Oiling most definitely penetrates into the wood.   

[windydankoff]

Nice work. I've been using Music Nomad bore oil. It has a natural-smelling solvent so it penetrates quickly (at first) and then it semi-hardens (polymerizes). Evidence of the hardening occurred where I left some residue on the surface and it turned sticky-waxy (but was easy to clean off). I think that's ideal behavior for a compounded bore oil. I've applied it to a bunch of horns now.

Real dry areas, like between register stem and thumb tube, I will let the little rag sit there for a few hours, especially if it appears to be deteriorated.

Yes, this group tends to favor oil because we are technical and craft people as well as artists.