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I only play my euph about once every few weeks and ever time I pick it up the valves have locked up and have to be dragged out of the horn unwillingly and oiled up again. Is there a valve oil that would prevent this? I don't mean that I would not have to oil again, but just that the valves would not seize up after a couple of weeks.

I use Hetmans Light Piston Oil #1 for almost everything----pistons, rotors, linkages, slides (including trombone slide). Very long lasting. Oil up about once every two months. Roger Lewis put me onto this product and Hetmans Rotor Oil. He didn't specifically recommend the Piston Oil for rotors, but I found it works for me. I think both products are winners.

Ace

Oil for a rarely used horn?

That is the problem: rarely used. No different than a rarely driven automobile, rarely used implement of machinery, etc. No matter what the duty cycle is, it must be maintained according to time, not mileage or hours run. Get the horn out every few months and clean the old lubricants off of it and refresh. I know bloke likes lamp oil, and it is good, but just like "changing the oil once a year whether it needs it or not" on automobiles, no matter what lubricants you use, the horn will seize up if not taken out and internally cleaned and refreshed periodically.

Thanks Bloke - this is the JP 274 I got from you just before the poop hit the fan. I play euphonium in band, but I rarely practice euphonium. I spend 90% of my practice time on bone.

At the risk of actually answering your question ... (but no guarantee) - there is a type of lubricant that intends to serve that purpose for motor vehicles, a heavy weight additive that hangs in there longer and thus reduces start-up wear. In theory.

I'm afraid I've forgotten the most well known of them, and who it was that reported on it here as a piston treatment. I use Hy-Per Lube, a fairly economical alternative off the shelf at the auto parts store. It's thick and a bit sticky, as it should be, and a very little will go a long ways. I dab a little on and spread it around the piston surface. In your case, as your valves are tight already, you'd want to make sure to wipe it down.

It isn't exactly a fix. I mean, if this stuff does its job (which I do not guarantee), it isn't going to keep your valves in usable condition, it just will keep them from being completely cemented in place, and eventually that's going to happen anyway. It's possible too that normal use washes too much of the oil mixture out of the valves, including the heavy oil that has dissolved in your valve lube, and then when it evaporates the heavy oil is no longer where it's needed. If you try it and come to any conclusions, keep us posted.

Hello,
I tried to have my students oil their valves AFTER each rehearsal, trying to get the spit/lime off of the valves before packing up.
When putting the school instruments away for the summer, I would put a LIGHT film of the Selmer RED slide/cork grease on the valves.
It kept them from "cementing" in place, and the first oiling was extra heavy but nothing "stuck"
dave"user of much lamp oil in the classroom" hayami

I had a Wessex Dolce Euphonium that did the same thing if I left it for a week or so. I tried to clean the valves and casings more often or more aggressively and avoided synthetic oil, as that tends to leave deposits. Eventually I sold that instrument and bought a Festivo euphonium which has not had the same issue.

Are you guys talking about using lamp oil as your regular valve oil or just to put on it when storing the horn?

mikebmiller wrote:Are you guys talking about using lamp oil as your regular valve oil or just to put on it when storing the horn?

Yes, I believe so.

Ancient lore I recall possibly from this site suggests toothpaste, for a mild abrasive that will get results with manual operation so you don't have to chuck it into the power drill.

In this day and age, I wouldn’t recommend handing out any information regarding abrasives (even super mild ones) and brass instruments.

A lot of people my age and younger simply don’t have a lot of hands-on experience with fixing stuff, as since the 1990s or so, most consumer goods have become effectively disposable. Unless someone has some ancillary hobby that requires precision and handy work (I used to build RC cars and repair bikes as a teen; the weird kid), they aren’t likely going to have a massive amount of intuition on how to go about working this process properly.

As an example, there is a post on Reddit where a kid has a 186 with a bent spatula. Something ridiculously easy to fix. What is going on looks unhopeful.

Regardless, bloke, do you make any attempt or have made any to catch and recycle your lamp oil? I’m simply curious to see if one could catch the oil at the main tuning slide and do some simple filtration and recycle the oil a few times.

Displaying my ignorance;

If you put huge quantities of lamp oil through your horn, which does sound like a good idea, doesn't a fair amount of it end up on your clothes?

bloke wrote:bloke "similar-but-different strategies as when avoiding spilling food/drink on oneself"

What's that, now?
- "that child *sigh*", the clumsy one who was likely to knock over a beverage glass at a fancy meal.