Newb question - flute oiling

[Hi4head]

I just saw a video on YouTube which had me say “Huh???”.
It appeared that the guy is a flute maker and he said (and demonstrated) to oil the inside and outside of a flute. But he then said to not oil the head section bore; only oil the bore and outside of the body (and oil the outside of the head of you wanted)

Is this right?

On my wooden flutes, I’ve been oiling the inside and outside of the entire flute. Neither has a metal tuning slide.

Guidance from those of you that know what you are talking about will be greatly appreciated.

I have a Burns blackwood folk flute and maple Morneault.

I guess it’s possible that he had a fully lined headjoint, but that wasn’t mentioned.


Many thanks
Chris

[chas]

I suspect the person in the video was oiling a flute with a metal-lined head. If you have a wooden-bore head, you should oil it.

[Conical bore]

That doesn't sound right to me, unless it actually was a fully lined head where oiling wouldn't make sense.

Here's what Casey Burns recommends on flute care for your Folk Flute: http://www.caseyburnsflutes.com/flutecare.pdf

I oil the headjoint bore of my unlined flute on a seasonal basis, with commercial bore oil. I oil the body part bore of my lined headjoint flute a little more often, because it's a recent (used) purchase and it's probably still settling down to my local climate. No point in oiling the head on that one.

For external care, I follow the advice recommended by Windward, the builder of one of my flutes, to use the same wax I use for thread-wrapped tenons. In my case that's just commercial cork wax, good enough for a nice, relatively long-lasting coating. I refresh it at intervals, especially around the embouchure hole on the headjoint that gets dried out with mouth contact. Bore oil for external care doesn't seem as good to me as a beeswax + mineral oil "waxy" coating, but your mileage may vary.

[Hi4head]

Thank you for the prompt responses. I actually have that sheet from Casey, but I thought that maybe I was misinterpreting the instructions when I saw this video.

Chris

[jim stone]

Lots of controversy about oil. I've had first-rate makers tell me not to use oil at all, at least on blackwood flutes.

[busterbill]

Oiling as per the instructions of the maker makes the most sense. As important of course is how you care for your flute as you play it. Most makers of wood flutes want you to play in your flute buy playing for short bits of time then resting it and repeating, with swabbing in between. The most common error I have seen newbies do ( and I did once to a flute that ended up with a crack when I was a newbie too) is to set the flute down somewhere "safe" completely assembled. I thought I'd be more likely to pick it up and play it if it were easy to pick up. In my case moisture settled in a tenon joint and I ended up with a tenon rebuild. I have heard of others who leave their flutes out developing cracks.

Those "safe spots on the desk or piano may also get some sun as the day moves on and you end up baking your flute.

The best advice is dismantle your flute and put it in its case or pouch in a cupboard or on a shelf away from direct sunlight, forced air vents either for heat or air conditioning, and of course, radiators.

I've been playing my main flute for decades and don't oil it as much anymore. I seems to have reached a point of statis, but I do make sure to put it back in its case if I am going to leave it for more than a few minutes.

Sorry if I bored you with this particular rant, but it seemed as important as oiling. One nice thing about the folks on this forum is you often get more than you asked for. We are a generous bunch.