Oiling the blade?

[chas]

Does anyone have strong opinions on whether or not to oil the blades of wooden whistles? I've read, possibly from Paul Busman, that oiling may soften the blade. OTOH, I've also read that any exposed grain ends (ends of pieces, embouchure holes of flutes), of which there are some in the blade, need to be oiled. Also, I would think the blade would be exposed to an awful lot of moisture, so it would need more water-resistance than other parts of the whistle.

TIA

[Zubivka]

Mollenhauer, the German recorder maker (any wood from boxwood and fruitwoods to the hardest/oiliest like various rosewoods) recommends oiling of the blade, using a soft brush so as not to blunt it.

Moeck, its competitor, suggests the same.

Michael Grinter ditto, now he may be influenced that's he's a recorder maker, before whistles
Yvon Le Coant, a Breton bombardes/chanters/flutes/whistles maker seconds Grinter in suggesting to oil the whistle throughout (even the block, once a long while). They seem alone on this latter advice.

Note that Mollenhauer favors linseed (flaxseed) oil as a base, while this oil is known to harden fast, esp. under sunlight. Most others seem to go for the slower drying (and less smelly) almond oil.

[Wombat]

Zub's summarised the essentials in as much detail as would be obviously helpful. I'd just add the following: since here is a difference of opinion from maker to maker, I follow the advice of the maker of the whistle I'm treating. Each maker will have prepared the wood before it gets to you according to their own view of what is best for it and I would not want to deviate from their instructions lest I undo a process set in train.

Even if one maker has a better approach than another, it doesn't follow that you should switch your approach to go along with what you regard as best. It is foolish to switch horses in mid stream, even if the horse you are switching to is clearly better than the one you arrived on.

[brewerpaul]

Does anyone have strong opinions on whether or not to oil the blades of wooden whistles? I've read, possibly from Paul Busman, that oiling may soften the blade. TIA

Wasn't me!! I usually oil the blades on my whistles, but I don't overdo it. On some of the relatively soft woods, I coat them with a thin coat of Cyanoacrylate glue ( crazy glue) which strengthens and waterproofs them.

[chas]

Thanks, Paul -- I've been oiling the blade of your whistle. Since you advise pretty much the same treatment as Glenn, it was almost certainly Phil Bleazey or Jon Swayne that gave me the warning.

[Sunnywindo]

Does anyone have strong opinions on whether or not to oil the blades of wooden whistles? I've read, possibly from Paul Busman, that oiling may soften the blade. TIA

Wasn't me!! I usually oil the blades on my whistles, but I don't overdo it. On some of the relatively soft woods, I coat them with a thin coat of Cyanoacrylate glue ( crazy glue) which strengthens and waterproofs them.

Okay. So I'm not the only one out there who was under the impression that somewhere Paul said something about not oiling the blade. Or so I thought. Yet it appears I got him mixed up with someone else. But if other people are having the same mix up, and Paul never said such a thing, then who said it and how did it get connected to Paul?

Ah... the mystery of confusion....

Sara (who has carefully oiled the blade of her whistle occasionally anyway as it didn't seem like a little would hurt and even seemed like it would be a good thing if oil was good for the rest of the whistle)