Valve oil

[PhantomPhan13]

What valve oil do you use/prefer? Personally, I use blue juice.

[davewerden]

Valve oil

Blue Juice has been my choice for the last few years. So far I've found nothing to complain about (regarding Blue Juice, that is).

[Eupher6]

Valve oil

One of fsung's valuable contributions has been his recommendation to use Yamaha Synthetic. It's a little spendy, but a little goes a long way.

To me, and for my usage, Blue Juice literally stinks. I don't like any kind of solvent-type smell and whereas that doesn't bother some folks, it does me.

Yamaha Synthetic doesn't smell. And it works very well. Though, as with most synthetic oils (Hetman being an exception), you can't mix it with a traditional, mineral-based oil like Blue Juice.

[Nuck81]

Valve oil

I've used Blue Juice since I got my new horn a year ago, and I've used with my new Cornet.



Pretty good stuff, and dirt cheap. I stock piled eight bottles for about $12 online. Should last me a while...

[RickF]

Valve oil

I also like the Yamaha Synthetic (light).

[tonewheeler]

Valve oil

I've been using Al Cass.

[bbocaner]

Valve oil

I have this obsession with always wanting to make sure I'm using the very best oil so I have tried almost EVERYTHING. I haven't used the Yamaha that someone mentioned but I have seven instruments with piston valves, so I do a lot of experimenting.

My current preference is for La Tromba T2. It's quick, it's not messy and the bottle is really easy to apply oil with, and it seems to do a good job of lasting a long time and adhering to the pistons to protect from corrosion. It seems to work equally well on stainless and monel pistons.

Previous to that I was using ultra pure, which perhaps even lasted longer and provided more protection and was just as fast and smooth, however I had a few issues with it. The most serious was that it seemed to swell the valve guides on my besson prestige baritone, causing terrible sticking. Going back to T2 solved the problem really quickly. It was bizarre! My other beef with ultra pure is that it feels really greasy when it gets on your fingers, it stains clothes, and it is almost impossible to use their bottle without getting it all over your fingers and clothes.

Before that I had tried Zaja Pro and Zaja blue which is the same oil but with a teflon (or something) additive. I liked the way these worked, but they evaporated quickly and for the instruments that I don't use too often I would always come back to them and find the valves all frozen up.

Hetman worked pretty well for me, and I really like that their products are available in a range of weights, but I don't like the gummy residue their piston oils would leave in the bottom valve caps and on the felts. I still use their "classic" piston oil on some antique instruments. I also still use their range of rotary and spindle oils as well as their range of tuning slide and trigger slide greases and oils. I also like to use their multi-purpose lubricant on valve cap threads, trombone parts that screw together, etc..

Spacefiller never really impressed me, however I believe that spacefiller TS, their tuning slide grease is really good. The hetman gets more use though, because they have several different weights available which you can mix and match to get just the right feel for each slide.

alisyn was also disappointing.

webster's eco lube got a brief trial as it came with my baritone. Didn't like it, didn't last long at all.

I didn't like the strong scent of blue juice, and it didn't seem to last very long for me.

Al Cass seems to last a long time and protect pretty well, however it wasn't particularly fast or smooth on my valves. It's nice that it's available EVERYWHERE, but I also don't really care for the strong scent of it, even though they advertise as "odorless"

[fsung]

Valve oil

Originally posted by: bbocaner
Hetman worked pretty well for me, and I really like that their products are available in a range of weights, but I don't like the gummy residue their piston oils would leave in the bottom valve caps and on the felts. I still use their "classic" piston oil on some antique instruments.

Yamaha synthetic comes in three weights (light, regular, and vintage) that correspond in weight to Hetman's #s 1, 2 and 3. I prefer Yamaha because, although it does eventually leave a residue, the accumulation rate is significantly slower (3-4 weeks before it's discernable vs. 2-3 days with Hetman) and the amount is significantly less (YMMV). I've found the Yamaha oils last longer and perform at least as well as their Hetman equivalents (again, YMMV).

Although Kurt Witt (director of marketing for Yamaha NA's band and orchestral instrument division), in response to am e-mail query, said that Yamaha "does not recommend" mixing their synthetic oil with conventional oils, I've been mixing the Regular and Blue Juice on my Sterling (Yammy for regular oiling; squirt of Blue Juice down the leadpipe for on-the-fly oiling and preventive cleaning) and Vintage and Blue Juice on my double bell with no discernible negative impact on performance. [FWIW, I did not begin to notice the residue mentioned above until I resumed mixing Blue Juice with the Yamaha Synthetic (initially, I used the Yamaha Synthetic by itself for 7 months before I resumed squirting Blue Juice down the leadpipe), so it's possible that the residue is a by-product of the interaction between them.]

[Snorlax]

Valve oil

So that green slime that appears in the ports of my valves is residue from the Hetman's?

Or is it a result of mixing my Hetman's with an occasional dose of Al Cass?

Every week or so I swab the 5050's ports out with a Q-Tip.

I usually don't eat before playing, so it isn't guacamole.
I don't like guacamole anyway.

Happy holidays to all...

Jim W.

[JTJ]

Valve oil

I've been advocating Yamaha synthetic for a while now, as per the thread below. Still use it, although I switch to Yamaha standard from time to time for a different feel and because it seems to help with deposit formation. I would use Blue Juice when I wanted a standard oil, but it to me smells, yet not to everyone it seems.


http://www.dwerden.com/talk/fo...AR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

[fsung]

Valve oil

Originally posted by: Snorlax

So that green slime that appears in the ports of my valves is residue from the Hetman's?

The first time I had Hetman applied to my valves was when Lee Stofer aligned them at TUSABTEC '09. Three days later, I momentarily non-plussed to discover waxy yellow rings in the ports of all four valves when I went to re-oil them.

I presume the residue was from the Hetman's, as opposed to an interaction between Hetman's and the Blue Juice I had used previously, since Lee had wiped down the valves and swabbed the casings before aligning them and applying the Hetman's, and I had not squirted Blue Juice down the leadpipe in the interim.

[jeffo]

Valve oil

I had pretty good luck with Hetman's for a while, but I started noticing inconsistent performance whenever seasons changed (never figured if it was the change in humidity or the change in temp).

Al Cass has been working well for me. I tried mixing the two for a while, but the straight Al Cass has worked out best for my horn.

[Snorlax]

Valve oil

Well, OK...I picked up a couple of bottles of the Yamaha oil today for my 5050. I'm going to bathe it later this week and get as much of the hetmans out as I can. That green portslime was not attractive.
Jim W.

[davewerden]

Valve oil

Originally posted by: JTJ I would use Blue Juice when I wanted a standard oil, but it to me smells, yet not to everyone it seems

Oh, I wouldn't say I don't notice the smell . But I "grew up" with petroleum oil on my horns, so it doesn't bother me. I will say that Blue Juice may be a bit smellier than some petroleum oils. The only thing that really bothers me, I guess is the fact that it is blue. I like blue, but I wonder if this color is provided by an additive that is only cosmetic, in which case I'd be perfectly happy with a clear oil that worked as well. Obviously I am not a marketer by training, so I suppose Blue Juice sounds better than Clear Juice.

[bbocaner]

Valve oil

I'll have to sample that yamaha synthetic oil. I remember that yamaha used to sell a conventional valve oil that smelled incredibly bad -- I always wondered if it was whale blubber or something.