Bore oil-- yea or nay?

[ZoeB]

Just curious as to what people think about oiling wooden clarinets, because I\'ve heard a lot of different opinions about it. In my personal experience, it makes the instrument look better and have a cleaner sound, but location probably has something to do with it-- I live in Norway, so winter means cold and dry, not a great combination.
Opinions?

[Skyfacer]

Hi ZoeB. The main problem with oiling the bore of the Clarinet is over oiling and getting it on the pads as well.  You only need to apply a very small amount which results in a thin film on the surface of the bore. And it probably needs to be done , say once a month if that. And the older the clarinet the more important it is to do it.
With modern clarinets some of them apparently have the wood treated with oil (impregnated) during the early stages of the manufacturing process.
 Schreiber for example have , or had a video showing the billets (pre worked wood) being placed in some sort of pressure container to do this. So I\'d imagine that in this case such a  clarinet probably wouldn\'t need oiling at all.
When oiling don\'t forget to treat the tenon joints as well. that is the flat sections that are across the grain, both the ones of the tuning barrel , and the one in the bottom joint.

[phil]

I vote Yea.

I recondition a lot of clarinets, and I think it helps a lot for older clarinets. Yes, there are some new ones that are treated or painted. So it doesn\'t do that much for those.

I recently had a discussion with Omar Henderson about his Doctor\'s Products oil. I see that I did not post the information. (It came just before my trip to Indonesia.) So I have just now posted it under the Stuff > Oiling page. There are now two subpages about oiling.

The result of my discussion with Omar is that I am using Dr\'s Products oil. That oil is based on oil that museum professional use. It is thinner than the Pakistani apricot oil that I used to use. More of it soaks into the wood. Omar recommends oiling as frequently as once every 6 months. I think once per year is fine also.

Phil

[ZoeB]

I use almond oil, and do it with the change of seasons (at least for my main clarinet, a 1950\'s schreiber), and take off the keys to avoid spilling on pads, although there\'s mainly greenbacks on most of the clarinets that I take care of.

[philpedler]

Using a single vegetable oil is preferable over commercial baby oil blends. But be sure to read what Omar wrote to me, which will probably apply to almond oil. link: LINK

I have a link on the main oiling page that describes soaking a clarinet in oil. I like to show different oppinions. But I want to make clear that I DON\'T recommend that.

[Daltonl]

The clarinetists I play with as well as my technition all recomment bore oil for any wood clarinet.   I use a little to polish the exterior and use a little on a swab to coat the inside at least once a month.   I don\'t remove keys as I believe each time you take a screw out and replace it you wear the hole.   It can only be done so many times on any piece of wood so I leave that for when it has to be serviced.  My wife and I also enjoy refinishing antique wood furniture so we\'ve worked a bit with aged wood..

[bbrandha]

The people I bought my Mazzeo from very kindly oiled it before they shipped it to me. However, they oiled it so much that a year later, the oil is still oozing out when it warms up. I just had some pads replaced because they were sticking from the oil.

[Silversorcerer]

The first of these is from around 1920s and the second one from 1937: