Slide Lubrication--professional

[tubaguy9]

I am not even certain whether Allied sells to individuals.

They only sell to people in the repair field, or something of the like...At least from what I understand.
Heard this from a little birdy known as Mr. Siljenberg

[hald]

Sorry, I know this is a fairly old thread. But it was a good read.
Lanolin is an ingredient in soap making. I googled it and the first hit has 8oz for $5.25.

How have the various products and techniques been doing since October 2008?
Is there a poll somewhere on how many use what?

[Bill Troiano]

For most of the years of my playing life, I used whatever was available as valve oil and slide grease with no thought as to if one was better than another. I don't ever recall oiling valves and thinking that the oil I just used was superior to what I had used the last time. For 10 years or so, I used the ZaJa oil, mostly becasue my kids liked it, I knew of other pros who used it and it smelled nice. Then, I was told that Hetman's synthetic oil was the best oil around and that it could be used after using petroleum based oil with no ill effects. So, I bought the Hetman's along with their #8 slide grease and I have been using them since Jan. I didnt really notice them being any better or worse than any other product.

Last week, my valves began to stick badly at a rehearsal. I oiled them and it didn't get much better. The next day at the concert, it was pretty bad to the point where I had to manually help a valve on the upstroke on a few one tuba solo sections (wind ens. ). The next day I removed the valves and caps. I was disgusted by the crap that accumulated in the bottom valve caps (valves 1 and 2 mostly) and some of the crud was in the valve ports too. It looked almost like oatmeal and there was a chunk the size of a pencil eraser sitting in valve cap #1. I've never had this happen before. And, I do brush my teeth before I play at home and before leaving for a gig or rehearsal.

Yes, I eat oatmeal, but I strongly doubt that is what I had in my horn. Could this be some kind of reaction/build up as a result of using any of these products? I didn't check my other horn yet!!!

[pgym]

Hetmans is notorious in some circles for the waxy yellow residue that it leaves behind. The last time I had my euph chem cleaned, the tech applied Hetmans to the valves (the first and ONLY time I've had Hetmans on my valves). When I went to re-oil them (with Blue Juice) a couple of weeks later, there were waxy rings around all the valve ports, so ... no Hetmans for me, thank you very much.

I've been using Yamaha Synthetic since Feb, and I've noticed that there is more crud in the bottom caps than when I used conventional oils. I suspect that this is because: (a) I don't need to oil my valves as frequently as I did with conventional oils; and (b) I no longer squirt oil down the leadpipe and blow it through the horn at the end of each practice/playing session, as I did when I was using conventional oil, so the crud has a chance to accumulate instead of getting washed away every couple of days.