olive oil...

[sakuntu]

ok folks, I need a professional opinion. I've been oiling shells with olive oil....Inside and out...even the bearing edge. What do you think? Is this good? I just wanted something cheap and natural that wouldn't make rags spontaneously combust or something.

So should I continue or switch oils... also, being that i put it on the bearing edge, will that have a negative impact on the skin i'm about to mount?

[Dugafola]

it won't hurt at all.

stay away from the bearing edge....but if you do happen to hit the edge with oil, let it absorb as much as it can, wipe it clean and then mount your skin.

[michi]

I suspect that olive is less than ideal because it is fairly viscous and won't penetrate as well as some of the other oils, such as linseed. It won't do any harm, but may be more work to use. Make sure to wipe off any excess properly, otherwise your drum will start to smell rancid after a while.

Be careful with oil on the bearing edge. Any excess will seep into the skin and weaken it. I use a smidgen of shea butter on the bearing edge before mounting a skin, to help repel moisture and reduce swelling of the end grain around the bearing edge. But, again, only a very small amount, and I wipe the bearing edge with a clean dry polishing cloth before mounting the skin, to make sure there is no excess shea butter left on the rim.

Personally, I prefer Organoil Decking oil for the inside, and furniture wax for the outside. (See this post for details and URLs.)

The decking oil is very thin, so it penetrates very well, It contains a lot of Ti Tree and Eucalypt oil. These are very sharp and strongly-smelling oils (not unpleasant, just strong), so the drum will smell a bit for the first two weeks. But the oils are so aggressive that no self-respecting bug can live in them. This means that they are very good at preventing bacterial and fungal growth, and the oil won't go rancid.

For the outside, bees wax is also a great choice. Repels water very well, and smells nice.

Cheers,

Michi.

[rachelnguyen]

For me, the major downside of olive oil is that it goes rancid pretty quickly and may start to smell bad.

[sakuntu]

Really? i've used it for several drums...one kpalogo i oiled up over a year ago and it's never smelled...curious

[Carl]

mmmm... olive oil....

all you need now is some garlic, basil, Asiago cheese and pine nuts!

Ahem... excuse me....

I think that the problem with oil going bad on a drum comes from there being too much oil, therefor the oil ends up sitting on the surface of the drum where it is exposed to air.

If the oil absorbs correctly, and you wipe off the rest, the chance of it going rancid is greatly reduced (or, at the very least, so little of the rancid oil is exposed to air that you can't smell it! Either way it's a win/win)

C

[michi]

The problem with oil going bad on a drum comes from there being too much oil, therefor the oil ends up sitting on the surface of the drum where it is exposed to air.

If the oil absorbs correctly, and you wipe off the rest, the chance of it going rancid is greatly reduced (or, at the very least, so little of the rancid oil is exposed to air that you can't smell it!

Yes. Oil that is absorbed won't cause a problem, it's only the excess. Especially on the inside, where the surface is rough, it's very difficult to not leave traces of oil behind, no matter how much you wipe. That's where you can get smell, and also bacterial infection if something decides that your drum is a nice place to live with all that yummy food around...

(Add some basil to the olive oil, and at least you'll get upmarket tenants... )

Cheers,

Michi.