Do you guys explicitly oil the finger holes? I do that but so far I haven't oiled that holes under the keys. Do you think it is necessary to do that?



I heard that you should be careful with the cork at the joints when oiling a flute, because the oil might damage them. Do you do anything special with the cork at the joints or do you think it won't damage the cork?

And another question: Do you also do the oil bath with keyed flutes? I would like to do that with my keyed flute (block mounted) and would remove the keyes beforehand. Have you ever had the problem that the wood took in so much oil that is swole and you had problems fitting in the keys again?


I heard that a flute player with a flute made from olive wood ruined his flute by oiling it every day with olive oil. I never got to know him personally and don't know what exactly happened (bends, cracks, no idea...).
Maybe much lighter olive wood might be a different horse and olive oil in general is not so good.

When I oil the barrel, I also use a cotton swab to oil all the exposed end-grain and side-grain at the embouchure hole, the tenon ends, and the open tone holes. I don't oil the key holes because it would require removing the keys and I'm too lazy to do that. It would probably be a good idea, I've just never done it.

Oil on the cork can degrade the glue that holds the cork in place... I am always careful to not get oil on the cork.