Lamp oil.

TUBAMUSICIAN87 · Post by **TUBAMUSICIAN87** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 10:55 pm

I used a tiny tiny drop on eich valve and worked in into the valve by spinning the valve once or twice in the casing. occasionally I put a drop on eich side of my first valve slide and it made it a lot smoother and faster and I would still be doing this process it the fumes werent an issue

Normal · Post by **Normal** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:13 am

Thanks!

I was going to try exactly what you did on some older piston valves. I think I'll buy some Hetman Classic instead.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:39 am

There is a good chance I will be moving to the desert this summer. Where I live now isn't much cooler than the desert during the warmest time of the year, but the idea of being the least bit volatile concerns me. I wear thick glasses and I can imagine a sunbeam going through my glasses, igniting something.

I'm not really paranoid about it, just concerned.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:02 pm

All this discussion of 'the best' oil to use is mind-boggling! No one has mentioned that valve oil performs MORE THAN ONE function....

- to provide a lubricating film between the piston and casing

AND

- to wash all the crap out of the valves that enters the horn through the leadpipe.

What ever you decide to put on your pistons... don't spare it. One drop won't do! Apply valve oil freely. (this doesn't apply to rotary valves!)

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:29 pm

Guys, when I was young and stupid (yeah, yeah...now I'm just not quite so young, I know...) I did use a couple of drops of pure auto antifreeze on my trumpet valves once when I had to march a Christmas parade in 0 degree weather. Now, I'm not sure what I'd use, but more than likely I'd sod off the parade at this point. If you need to thicken up the viscosity, try mineral oil: colorless, viscous, NON-TOXIC....

pulseczar · Post by **pulseczar** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:48 am

www.fatcatoil.com/index.htm wrote: Some players claim that odorless lamp oil and odorless kerosene does the trick for their valves. This is folly because the corrosive impurities in these fuels far outweigh their lubricating qualities.

Is this just a marketing trick or is this true?

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:51 am

I would say that lamp oil is pretty nasty. When living on the island of Guam, we had one ferocious typhoon one week before Christmas 1997. The power was out for almost a month. Candles don't last very long when they are all you have for light. So we got some hurricane lamps at Kmart. After one night of living in a house with several of those lamps, which use lamp oil for burning, my lungs felt as though I smoked five cigarettes in an hour (and I haven't smoked since 1977!)

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:42 am

Ultrapure lamp oil does not pose a hazard to life and limb... unless of course, you choose to bathe in the stuff. Most all of the other lubricants out there that are intended for use on musical instruments are also petroleum-based.