Shelf Life of oils/lubes/creams

[Geordie]

Sorting through various trombone related oils/lubes/creams with a view to discarding, experimenting or giving away.
Some of this stuff has been hanging around here for years, stored at room temperature, after being purchased individually or acquired along with a used trombone. I was wondering if at some point it has become unusable. In particular:

Slides
Slide o Mix - big bottle/little bottle
Slide o mix - rapid comfort
Ultra Pure slide lube
Conn superslick
Yamaha lube - my regular, happy with it and replenished regularly

Rotary valve
Superslick - my regular, same bottle has been around for years and looking for better on my King 3B+ and King 4B with one of the following that I have:
Denis Wick valve oil
King Premium Rotary oil
Ultra Pure valve oil

And, on its own, Superslick tuning slide grease

Which of the above should I stick with, change to, throw away or donate?

[BGuttman]

I've had some oils around for 30 years and they are still fine. I also had a 30 year old jar of Pond's Cold Cream that was OK.

Look for separation of components. That's usually when these things stop being effective.

Specific to your list:

Superslick is OK if there is no separation (oily liquid on solid)
UltraPure slide oil tends to keep well
Superslick valve oil keeps well
King rotor oil is OK unless it evaporates leaving just a small pool of a thick liquid
UltraPure valve oil keeps well.

I don't have any of the other items, so I can't comment on them.

[ghmerrill]

Yeah, separation of components or obvious "drying out" are the main issues -- unless you notice something actually moving around in the substance. But I had a jar of anhydrous lanolin for over 20 years before it got to the drying out stage.

[CalgaryTbone]

I did have the packaging break down. I had a bottle of Hetmans valve oil (the stuff that lubes the moving parts other than the actual valve) break in my hands. My thumb went right through the body of the container as I was oiling my valve - valve oil everywhere. Look for hairline cracks in older bottles.

Jim Scott

[Posaunus]

I did have the packaging break down. I had a bottle of Hetmans valve oil (the stuff that lubes the moving parts other than the actual valve) break in my hands. My thumb went right through the body of the container as I was oiling my valve - valve oil everywhere. Look for hairline cracks in older bottles.

Yes, this is a definite weakness of the old Hetman bottles (mine was #12 Rotor Oil)! Be careful.

[I transferred the oil to a needle-dispenser bottle purchased from Amazon.]

[hyperbolica]

Super Slick and Trombotine seem to last forever. I've got enough Super Slick to last me 3 lifetimes. The Yamaha lube and slide-o-mix seem to separate with a little heat. And the various Yamaha nozzles seems to not work right out of the box. I've never had Slide-o-mix survive even a couple of weeks when kept in a case that goes in the car when it's hot. Just from a practical point of view, I want to switch back to Trombotine, but the Yamaha and Slide-o-mix stuff works better.

[Posaunus]

The liquid slide lubes (Yamaha, Slide-O-Mix, Ultra Pure) are indeed heat sensitive. I never leave these lubes in the car when it's hot. In fact, I transfer a small amount of slide lube to small (10-15mL) dispenser bottles which I keep in each trombone case. The originally purchased slide lube bottles stay in my refigerator - and last indefinitely.

Creams and oils don't need refigeration - but seem to last forever.

[Geordie]

Useful comments folks. Thank you.

[BrassSection]

My experience is the container gets brittle and fails before the contents, especially tuning slide grease. Valve oil is my exception, bottle lasts me about two years. Oiling 2 trumpets, cornet, tuba, euph, trombone before switching to Yamaha a year or so ago, and a fair number of ensemble players who come without. The ones that haven’t seen their horn for 5 years.

Am kind of curious about a quart of transmission fluid I still have, one ingredient is sperm whale oil, excellent lubricant! Sorta hard to find nowadays, my 1955 Ford tractor hydraulic oil original spec is for oil containing sperm whale oil. Later revised specs easily met by most of todays UTFs.

[matman]

I bought a tube of trombotine from sweetwater last year that was starting to separate. I went through it fairly quickly but it seemed to me that it still did the job, just a little bit more of a mess. The most recent tube from them is fine.

[Crazy4Tbone86]

Super Slick and Trombotine seem to last forever. I've got enough Super Slick to last me 3 lifetimes. The Yamaha lube and slide-o-mix seem to separate with a little heat. And the various Yamaha nozzles seems to not work right out of the box. I've never had Slide-o-mix survive even a couple of weeks when kept in a case that goes in the car when it's hot. Just from a practical point of view, I want to switch back to Trombotine, but the Yamaha and Slide-o-mix stuff works better.

I always thought that Trombotine lasted forever and was indestructible as well……..until recently. A couple of weeks ago we had a heat wave in the Mid-Atlantic region of the USA. My Trombotine was stored in a case in my car and the interior of the car went up to about 120-125 degrees Fahrenheit. I am sad to report that the Trombotine cream, which formerly lasted for weeks on my Greenhoe, only works well for about 2 or 3 hours of playing now. Some of the magic vanished when it melted in that heat and then returned to its creamy state.

Heat seems to destroy a lot of trombone slide lubricants!

[slidesix]

Returning player here.

I found my 30+ year old bottles of Holton rotary valve oils, Al Cass value oil, Schilke Slide Greases, and tube of trombontine cream all still seem fine and usable after all this time. None have separated and cracked yet. They have been stored away from extreme heat and cold though.

[TromboneLAB]

As a repair tech and player, I have found that most lubricants are pretty stable for long periods (years even) when stored at room temperature. Problems arise when lubricants are exposed to temperature changes, especially heat. Many lubricants will break down or separate when they get too hot. So, if you have a lubricant in your case, riding around in your trunk on a hot day, you will likely be exposing the lubricants in your case to enough heat to cause problems.

Slide-o-mix Rapid Comfort might be one of the most prone to degrade, as it always separates when exposed to heat. YamaSnot (The Yamaha Purple Bottle) seems to be the most stable and durable over the long term, besides Trombotine, which is the like the cock roach of lubricants. I'm pretty sure that stuff will survive a nuclear apocalypse

I switched to YamaSnot at the recommendation of Tony Baker when I was in grad school at North Texas and I was burning through one bottle of Rapid Comfort per week! Its been my favorite lubricant ever since!

My recommendation is just to try to keep your equipment and lubricants as temperature stable as possible--not too hot or too cold--as it is better for the horn and the lubricants inside your case.

I have also stored my extra bottles of YamaSnot in the fridge since my garage shop isn't air conditioned and can get warmer than I'd prefer. It causes the lubricant to thicken slightly until it returns to room temp, but it has been a great way to store it!

Hope that helps!