Oiling Wooden Flutes & Whistles

[JayDoc]

I've been using almond oil to treat my wooden flutes and whistles (mostly blackwood, a couple of coccobolo). I've noticed that they can feel a little sticky almost after the oil "dries". It's not a big deal, but I've been told that raw linseed oil is better. Two questions: (1) is it okay to use a little raw linseed oil on the flutes/whistles instead of almond--any tips or warnings? (2) is there any way to get rid of the slight "sticky" feeling on the wood? would just using linseed do that or is there something else to do? Oops, I guess that's 3 questions...Now that I think of it, here's a fourth :>) Someone also suggested some orange oil at one point. Does anyone know where to get that, of an appropriate quality for this purpose? Any thoughts about the relative effectiveness of those 3 oils? Oh no, 5 questions...geez [insert devil smiley here]
I very much appreciate the collective (and individual) expertise on caring for good woods on this site!
Thanks,
Jaydoc

[Calum Stewart]

JayDoc,
Sorry if I'm stating something that is already evident, but in my experience, one always removes the excess oil (no matter what kind) after the oil has had a chance to sink in. Some oils 'dry', others stay very wet, but personally I always take the oil off with a cloth or tissue, inside and out of the flute.
There is also alot of different oils one can use - but the word on the street, and seems to be agreed on by most people, that nut oils or the like are the best. I use almond oil, because it's easy to find & easily absorbed. Tung oil is great for a harder 'finish', but it dries with a residue, so one has to be careful not to leave for too long.
Hope that helps,
Best, Calum

[Gabriel]

Almond oil doesn't dry, so there will always be a sticky film if one doesn't remove the excess oil. I use linseed oil for the first oiling on the flutes I make. The parts are stored in a bucket of oil for up to a week, then removed, the excess oil wiped off carefully as the oil tends to "gum up", creating ugly spots that are difficult to remove. There will still be a very thin film of oil left, which dries within a few weeks (some drops of super glue together with some linseed oil on a cloth and wiping the flute with that starts the polymerization extremely fast, that way the oil is dry within a few minutes, but don't try this on your flute until you found out how it works on some scrap wood). Tung oil is good as well, it takes a bit longer than linseed oil to dry (to my experience), but doesn't smell so intensely - some people don't like the smell of fresh linseed oil...

So to answer your questions:

(1) no problem, however it will take some time to dry. CAUTION: clothes and paper towels soaked with linseed oil tend to ignite themselves, so ALWAYS burn the cloth/paper you used under controlled cirumstances or store the cloth underwater. This is no joke, there are MANY woodworking workshops that burned down due to forgotten linseed oil cloths!
(2) Nope, it will wear off with time if you use a non-drying oil, or dry within a few weeks if you use linseed, tung oil etc.
(3) see (1)
(4) I heard about that and you'll get orange oil at woodturner's shops, but I doubt that the effect is bigger than adding a nice flavour...
(5) I think linseed oil will do it, or just use almond oil, wipe it off after a day or two like Calum said and don't care about the sticky feeling until it wears off. I use almond oil or a woodwind bore oil I once got somewhere for oiling my own flutes, if I oil them at all (I don't do it very often, about twice a year). It doesn't really matter what you use. I use amlond because I don't want to and can't wait for weeks until I can play the flutes again.

Hope that helps.

[Casey Burns]

Use commercial bore oil, period.

All these other oils including Almond Oil, Linseed Oil and especially Tung Oil are drying oils that will polymerize with time. Or go rancid. The stickiness is a sign that polymerization is happening. You do not really want that.

People complain that bore oil is expensive. But so are these instruments sometimes! Say if you had a really nice car (such as my Honda Civic Hybrid - thanks to some inheritance money in case you were wondering....), would you put the cheapest oil or crummiest of gasoline of uncertain vintage and purity into it?

After observing how literally hundreds of my flute clients oil their instruments and the resulting messes on not a few of them from using bad oils, the recommendation for a commercial bore oil is now my current recommendation, and now a requirement for my flutes specifically in terms of warranty.

Casey

[I.D.10-t]

To add to the list, allergies.
To subtract, the bore oil I got stank.

I no longer try to oil. If a maker thinks his instrument needs it, I hope they chime in and suggest a brand that works. If not, why do it.

[Steve Bliven]

Use commercial bore oil, period.

All these other oils including Almond Oil, Linseed Oil and especially Tung Oil are drying oils that will polymerize with time. Or go rancid. The stickiness is a sign that polymerization is happening. You do not really want that.

What are the components of commercial bore oil?

Thanks and best wishes.

Steve

[Gabriel]

Just wanted to repeat that almond oil DOES NOT dry, thus it DOES NOT polymerize.

Polymerization actually isn't something we don't want, in fact a polymerized thin film of linseed oil in the bore or on the outer surface is a good thing to have. Of course one has to take care not to leave huge blobs of oil in the bore, endingung up in gum drops that mess everything up. Furthermore I think it is a bit foolhardy to dismiss what has been common practise among woodwind instrument makers and players for a few hundred years and which has certainly proven to work, if it is done correctly. If we're learning to play the flute correctly, why not learn to oil it correctly as well.

I personally think that oiling isn't too important, at least with the hard and dense woods like mopane and blackwood, but if one doesn't do it on a daily or weekly base - why not, it won't harm the flute. I have used commercial bore oil as well as almond, linseed and tung oils for my own flutes and it really doesn't matter if one's using them correctly.

Casey, please don't take this as an offense, as I know you're probably making flutes for a longer time than I'm wandering on our planet, but if your customers are messing up their flutes by using almond oil or linseed oil, they will most certainly mess them up with commercial bore oil as well. Their technique is wrong, most certainly not the oil they're using.

[Julia Delaney]

Use pharmaceutical grade almond oil, period.

Because I said so.

[O_Gaiteiro_do_Chicago]

I recommend almond oil or raw linseed/flaxseed(no drying agents added) oil. I would be a little concerned about commercial bore oils as they contain petroleum distillates which have some nasty side effects. My rule of thumb, don't put any non-edible oils in the flute.

[rama]

good oil article.

[Casey Burns]

According to the Artists Handbook of Materials and Methods, Almond Oil certainly is a polymerizing oil.

The biggest problems I have seen result from people using it off the shelf, even adding the Vitamin E to it, and then keeping it around for a long time and using it way past its pull date. In some cases, just rancidity and a flute that smells awful. In other cases, a gummy mess.

Its no so much their technique of applying the oil - its the oil they use itself that causes the problems.

I do not know what the components of commercial bore oils are - most likely petroleum derived. These do not polymerize. Or go rancid and stink or become sticky.

Casey

[Gabriel]

The handbook must be wrong then. I never had any pure and clean almond oil that dried. I once tried if it dries by putting a good drop onto a piece of paper...it stayed oily for months, not even the slightest sign of polymerization. I get mine from the chemist and it is as clean as it can get. No idea if almond oils that are "enhanced" with additives are able to dry out, though.

By the way, the commercial bore oil I have here contains silicone, which is a polymer...

[jim stone]

Just to say that the oil-issue is controversial. I have been advised by some makers I respect
not to oil at all. Being a lazy bugger, I've followed this advice. No problems so far--
it's getting on to seven years. FWIW.

[Casey Burns]

Almond's rate of drying isn't that fast - but my experiments with oils indicate that yes, it dries and hardens, at least on my flutes. Might be that I do use linseed w/ a polymerizing agent (cyanoacrylate) as a finish. It probably accelerates the Almond's drying.

Quite frankly I do not want to debate with you whether or not it polymerizes.

Its really the issue of going rancid that is my bigger objection. It will go rancid in the bottle, and possibly on the flute if its just about to go over the edge.

Its just this, or the misapplication of inappropriate oils such as rancid oils, untreated oil from the grocery store, hardware store linseed, Tung, oil rendered from someone's armpit sweat and other oils that I've gone "hard core" as far as recommending only commercial bore oils (to maintain warranty status). I have no control over what people oil their flutes with and frankly I don't really care - except when something goes wrong and they send it back to me for repairs, often assuming I am willing to drop everything else immediately (including the ones in my queue) to fix their instrument. I've decided at this point in my career that its not worth my time and life energy to fix other peoples' flute problems that have arisen from carelessness. Thus if I send a flute out, and someone insists on oiling it with oil rendered from their toenail fungus - because they heard someone say with Great Authority on Chiff and Fipple that Toenail Fungus Oil was the ONLY type of bore oil to use on their flute - and that flute later develops problems, its not my problem and they can get their flute fixed by someone else.

[an seanduine]

Courses for Horses.
Mark Twain was right.
But then, I've been labeled an elitist.
Bob