remarkable valve oil

[jimgray]

I am not a snake oil salesman, but I do have to report having found an amazing product today.

Denis Wick Advanced Formula Valve Oil With PTFE.
"The chemical name of PTFE is Polytetrafluoroethylene, and it is the most slippery substance on earth. It is found in many everyday usages such as non-stick pans, Gore-Tex rainwear and in dental floss. Its unique properties transform ordinary valve oil into an extraordinary lubricant, the microscopic particles acting as minute ball-bearings."

Well worth checking out - had an immediate and most excellent effect on my rotary valves.
Available at Osmun Brass, and other fine music shoppes...

[TheHatTuba]

Teflon. It works for pans why not tubas?

[SousaSaver]

I received a bottle of this in the mail from Wick one day. I tried it out and it works fine.

I would caution folks that if you do switch from a standard oil like Bach or Al Cass that you clean your pistons and casings really well before changing to oils with additives or synthetics. They don't tend to play nice with each other. Just my opinion. I could be wrong...

[imperialbari]

It is a given that valve oils shall make valves run as fast as possible with a wear as minimal as possible. I guess several brands fulfill those purposes very well. So my criteriae have been added upon: As little gunk as possible.

In my experience silicon additives lead to a lot of gunk.

So I stand by Blue Juice. It stinks and it evaporates very fast, so frequent re-oiling is called for. But it doesn’t mess up my valves.

Klaus

[peter birch]

It has been around for A few years now, it is expensive, but it is used sparingly, so lasts a long time, all I can say is that it works well on my valves.

[tubatooter1940]

Wonder how much fun it would be to put some of that stuff on a kid's sliding board?
I learned from Bloke to add some 5W-40 motor oil to ultra pure lamp oil to make the valves on my 1940 king fast and tight.
toots

[graybach]

What is the ratio in the mixture of lamp oil and motor oil?
Thanks,
Gray Bach

[sousaphone68]

I received a bottle of this in the mail from Wick one day. I tried it out and it works fine.

I would caution folks that if you do switch from a standard oil like Bach or Al Cass that you clean your pistons and casings really well before changing to oils with additives or synthetics. They don't tend to play nice with each other. Just my opinion. I could be wrong...

I think you are correct my fellow tuba player tried this on his Besson upright top action piston Eb with very poor results white paper like deposit built up on piston ports and valve casing changed intonation had to give it a bath eventually had to send it in for a pro to clean and free up the valves

[opus37]

There are a couple of long threads on valve oil and the classic mixture from Bloke and others (lamp oil and a little motor oil). Some folks find Hetman's classic the way to go, others the Wick PTFE. Others will only use the plain old stuff (which is basically lamp oil). The only consistent advice is clean your horn really good before changing oil types. Different types don't seem to play well with each other usually clogging up the horn at the more inopportune moments.

[David Richoux]

With all of the known hazards of Polytetrafluoroethylene I am not so sure I would be putting that stuff anywhere near my mouth - even the fumes could be carrying enough of the molecules to be a health risk!
A few articles: http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Teflon/teflon.htm