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As far as what works for you, what is the best lubricant to use to slicken/grease your slides? Thanks in advance.

Weril slide lube. Superior product.

Ace

After trying all kinds of things from lanolin to Lucas oil, I think the best stuff out there is made by Ultra-Pure, (not the lamp oil). The entire Ultra-Pure line of lubricants is amazing in its' quality and durability. Don't let the size of the small container of slide lube bother you because the stuff seems to last forever - you won't need to reapply. Same with their valve oil. I use my horn quite a bit and only need to oil my valves 3 or 4 times per year. My students use the rotor oil and it's just as effective and durable. Sorry if I sound like an official endorser (I'm not and they certainly don't need me!), but it's simply the best line of lubricants that I've found.

STP

TheHatTuba wrote:STP

When I tried it, it made my horn smell like a car that's burning oil.

(But it did give me "the racer's edge"...)

https://youtu.be/uglA5-S9XXo" target="_blank

I like the shilke slide grease. It's very smooth, and if you need a super quick pull just add a little valve oil to thin it up. I have a spring on my first slide to pop it out after pushing in for D in the staff, and it always comes back super fast and smoothly. I haven't found something I like better.

Stryk wrote:

58mark wrote:I really like the Selmer red stuff, and if it's too thick, you can cut it with valve oil

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This stuff

+1

In my experience, just about any commercial slide grease product (or STP or ATF or "Marvel Miracle Oil"...if you can stand the smell) EXCEPT stuff with lanolin in it. I find that lanolin sort of takes on water and oil and makes a "schmutz" that ends up in the valves and makes them sticky.

one.kidney wrote:As far as what works for you, what is the best lubricant to use to slicken/grease your slides? Thanks in advance.

"slicken/grease" is the question for me: Isn't it 2 different things we want to do? For a slide we need to pull, such as #1, we need something to help slicken so it pulls easier. For #2, say, we need something to prevent it from getting permanently stuck between servicings. Different functions. Pretty much anything will work to keep it from freezing, but the pull-slide material is very important. For that, I, too, like the little container of Ultra-Pure; light is quicker than regular, use whichever works best for you.

I just use whatever valve oil is in my case. usually the Yamaha synthetic stuff or Hetman piston valve oil.

1 to 1 3 in 1 and unscented lamp oil. Adjust solution to your liking. Much less 3 in 1 in the solution for valves. That's what I use. It's cheap and doesn't smell funky. Also, since you're using the same thing on your slides and valves - at different viscosities - you don't have to worry about slide grease seeping into valves and gumming stuff up. I've also used a touch of stp thinned to my liking with lamp oil.

The best advice I can give is use a lubricant you like and stick with it. Lubricant oils and greases that are mixed can cause the slide to stick like glue or create other chemical reactions. Depending on who you send your instruments to, some techs use anhydrous lanolin on non-fast action slides (tuba slides), lamp oil mixture, or a brand name like yamaha, hetmans etc. It is my experience that lanolin or an oil is best, other greases aren't as great. Though Yamaha has come out with a new synthetic grease that seems promising but I have not used it much. Hetmans is my favorite slide oil.It is what I put on my instruments and I use hetmans and lanolin on the instruments I repair. Love the fact that they have a light slide oil too.

We used to dip the tip of the slide in STP back in the 70s when I taught band. It did work well, but was murder trying to get it wiped off of parts other than the slide. It just kept breaking down, getting on the hands and transferring to everything that would be touched. But we still loved it. Until... Several years went by on some particular instruments and the STP had solidified and the slides left frozen. I had similar experiences with brake grease.
Because it was handy and all I had at the time, I applied vasiline to all the slides on my King CC tuba. Very smooth and it seemed to last forever. I had a tech scold me for using it saying that it conducts water between the slides and would cause corrosion. Now I can be a lazy guy and will admit that for about 10 years I never played the King CC. When I came back to it, the Vasilined slides were like the day I left it. STP and brake grease had basically turned to shellac.
Go figure. Now, with discretionary income, I use some designated commercial brass instrument greases and lubricants and have no complaints. But yes a much thinner product on the slides that I pull. Because of the transfer/cleanup issue, I will never use STP again.

Joe. Glad to hear that valve oil will loosen up the thickened STP, if it gets to that stage. Do you regularly add a drop or so of oil to it, or just out of the can? Of course for a car engine lubricant
it is intended as an additive not a replacement for oil, so I wonder if it might wind up being the dream additive for horn lubrication to adjust the viscosity. But as so many of us do things with simply practicality in mind, it just needs to be the right kind of slippery and stay on the slide.

In my expirence, STP oil treatment also lasts VERY long on rotary linkage parts. Thinner valve oils tend to evaporate and dry up quicker.