A lot of sense has been said here.
One thing to bear in mind however is how you use your own pipes.
Olive oil etc can be fine IF you clean the pipes on a very regular basis
(cleaning off all the old stuff etc) so it never gets the chance to harden
up and glue the joints, pads, keys etc together (lost a few pads like that
in the very early days).
The longer between cleaning and playing, the more inert an oil you need.
I have tried almond oil (and good it was too) and used it for over 20 years
on pipes that come out "now and again" and also neat's-foot oil (I used to
do leather working as a hobby) - also very good.
As I played less and less, I tried Colin Ross's suggestion of medical liquid
paraffin - and we need to be aware that, as said, it's not called that in
countries other than the UK.
I have found that to be an excellent oil and the pipes are still fine after
several months in the case so I have switched to that now. It also had the
benefit of oiling the clack valves and I haven't (yet) had a case when the
valve made a noise (that "pop" sound) since using it. Another bonus as I
occasionally got that with the almond oil.
My pipes are lignum with NS mounts, by the way.
If in doubt about what it is, it's sold in pharmacies as a laxative and
NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with heating or lighting.
Pure oil of lavender oil worked well too but you do get some odd looks when
you open the case and the smell of lavender permeates the venue.
Cleaning the silver/brass can also be done with anything acidic (hence the
lemon) including tomato sauce or, for those with "green" in mind, a stalk of
rhubarb.
Take care with the iso-alcohol as it's poisonous and highly inflammable but
is easily obtained in various preparations such as tape head cleaner,
medical swabs for preparing injection sites and numerous things for cleaning
computers and electrical parts. You know it's there as there is always a
large warning on the container.
Vinegar works as well but makes you think of fish 'n' chips :-)
We all have our favourites, I suppose.
Colin Hill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gibbons, John" <j.gibb...@imperial.ac.uk>
To: "'Francis Wood'" <oatenp...@googlemail.com>; <julia....@nspipes.co.uk>
Cc: "Northumbrian Small Pipes" <nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 3:43 PM
Subject: [NSP] Re: [nsp] re-conditioning ...
Quantz swore by almond oil, and if Fritz's flute had suffered by it it
would perhaps show in the historical record....
One problem is the speed of sound in nitrogen is not the same as in air.
A way of coaxing the extra few cents out of a flat chanter would be to
hook a nitrogen cylinder up to the bellows.
Or helium if that isn't enough.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On
Behalf Of Francis Wood
Sent: 14 January 2011 15:16
To: julia....@nspipes.co.uk
Cc: Northumbrian Small Pipes
Subject: [NSP] Re: [nsp] re-conditioning ...
On 14 Jan 2011, at 11:31, Julia Say replied:
( a while ago i remember there was some discussion of oils. . .)
And then another one, and then another one. Its one of
the recurrent topics.
It's one of those things that has no definitive answer. Almost every
option has a possible disadvantage as Dorothy Parker pointed out.:
'Résumé'
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
I haven't found the beginning of this thread so I don't know what actual
use is being proposed for the oil. Is it for use in the bore? There are
historical sources mentioning the use of bore oil (almond, I think) but
these are for flutes and recorders as I remember, where an oxidised
coating (in a comparatively large bore) will cause virtually no problem
and may actually be beneficial. The only historical treatise relevant to
the present discussion is Hotteterre's Méthode pour la Musette containing
comprehensive maintenance instructions for this smallpipe, all of which
are directly applicable to NSPs. He makes no mention of oiling either bore
or key-pads. I don't think this is likely to be an accidental omission
from such comprehensive instructions. More likely perhaps, it was thought
that the oils then available then were likely to bring more problems than
benefit in a very narrow bore.
I don't know whether anyone has tried playing in an oxygen-free
environment. Nobody has yet commented on this.
Francis
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