i live in the US and haven’t seen “pharmaceutical-grade” almond oil in any store i’ve been to. health food stores, pharmacies, whatever.
i’ve been searching the forum some and have kind of gathered that cold-pressed oils aren’t so good, as they tend to have little… natural bits still in them. unfortunately i bought a big ol’ bottle of this, as i thought that “high-quality” oil MUST mean “good-for-my-flute…”
but how about “refined” almond oil? like ones you’d find next to the organic olive oils and sesame oils in a natural foods market? it’s not “pharmaceutical-grade,” but doesn’t “refined” suggest that it wouldn’t have almond particles in it?
You can get it it in the health food store, The oil is for massage, not cooking. It has vitiman E added to preserve it. It should be with the vitamins.
Almond oil has one of the highest levels of monounsaturated fats in it. It is second to olive oil. Monounsaturated is good because it is the least prone to rancidity/volatility of any of the unsaturated fats. The more almond oil is refined the more concentrated its monounsaturate content because the refining process
removes other nutrient factors
neutralises or kills the the other unsaturates which tend to be more unstable to light, oxygen and heat.
Whilst the effects of 1) and 2) above make the refined oil less palatable and nutritious (and claimed healthy) for consumption, it does improve its industrial application.
IMO, any LIGHT, high monounsaturate content oil will do the trick for flutes.
I really don’t think that the flute cares where it came from. I also suspect that people can get overly worked up about such things, and probably any of it will work as well. Afterall, you’re trying t slow the absorption of and release of water, not stop it. If completely stopping it were the real issue, then they’d all be plastic coated. The one concession I did make wat to strain the oil through a coffee filter into a brown bottle. I may or may not add vitamin E to it in the future. If this batch goes rancid, then I’ll add it in the next. Humans are fascinating creatures. Most of us have the amazing ability to take something relatively simple and make it terribly complicated.
I will now go prepare to be smacked upside the head for even thinking such terrible things, hee hee.
well, i didn’t really think my flute cares where it comes from… and i don’t either. i just hadn’t seen the kind i was instructed to get. however, i have read that food-grade almond oil can gum up the bore, and i was kind of trying to avoid that. i don’t think it’s quite fair to say i’m getting overly worked up, or making it terribly complicated.
but anyway, straining it through a coffee filter sounds like a good idea.
Oh, I didn’t mean you specifically. That was an example of those sweeping generalizations that we’re always warned about using.
All joking aside, I’ve been a member on several different forums over the years… some music related, and some not. It’s been my experience that when you get a group of folks together who share a common interest, no matter what it is, it’s not too unusual for common sense to take a holiday occasionally. When this happens you’ll find people obsessing over details which probably don’t warrant that amount of time or worry. An example, for me, is oil. I use almond oil. Why? A couple of reasons. One is that it’s recommended by many people on this forum (not very scientific, huh?). Two, it makes sense to me that an organic, plant-based thing (Flute) would do better with an organic, plant-based oil (almond, walnut, olive, etc). Also not very scientific, but like I said, it makes sense to me.
I just did a search, and there are 336 posts in the Flute Forum which contain the word ‘oil.’ Just an observation.
I’m somone who did get worked up over the oil thing . In my case because I’m a beginner, and I wanted to do the right thing by my precious flute - so apart from asking around in music shops I researched extensively on the net and ended up totally confused because for every piece of information I found one that contradicted it - so in the end I was so confused that I ended up buying bore oil in a music shop rather than for example purchasing almond or linseed oil from a store. Also, when and how much or how little one is supposed to oil the flute if at all got my head spinning and I was terrified I was going to kill my precious flute one way or another . So, certainly for a beginner who is genuinely worried about his/her instrument all that information can be daunting and mind-boggling . Perhaps, in those moments ignorance is bliss…
. In my case because I’m a beginner, and I wanted to do the right thing by my precious flute - so apart from asking around in music shops I researched extensively on the net and ended up totally confused 
because for every piece of information I found one that contradicted it 
- so in the end I was so confused that I ended up buying bore oil in a music shop rather than for example purchasing almond or linseed oil from a store. Also, when and how much or how little one is supposed to oil the flute if at all got my head spinning 
. So, certainly for a beginner who is genuinely worried about his/her instrument all that information can be daunting and mind-boggling 