Oil Change - Update To Xenith Care Recommendations
For the past 3 years I have happily oiled my instruments with Camellia oil - a natural seed oil that is commonly used on fine Japanese knives. It took several years to use up a gallon of this lovely oil. Once it was low I re-ordered and didn’t give it a second thought. Not long after, several customers checked in that their instrument arrived with a finish that was either blotchy or a little sticky. Having ordered the same oil from the same seller I was surprised to hear this. Upon investigation and testing in house, it seems the oil’s properties are different than the pervious bottle.
As a result I will be now using Phoenix Oil. Made specifically for handpans I expect it will be more consistent from bottle to bottle.
If your Xenith arrived in this condition, here’s what I would recommend. I would recommend cleaning that oil off and re-oiling. Not a bad thing to learn as its common maintenance every 6-12 months. Before oiling, clean with rubbing alcohol, 70-90%, doesn’t matter. Don't worry if it seems like the rubbing alcohol changes the color of the metal, this is normal. I would recommend Phoenix Oil but any thin natural oil will work. Use a little at a time and buff it in. Repeat. Once its been buffed in, take a clean rag/paper towel and buff off any excess and you should be good to go.
This is not the first chapter in the ‘handpan oil’ saga. It started about a decade ago. There was a study done to find the best, already on the market oil for handpans. After much debate and cross-research with the world of guns, Frog Lube was the standout. As it turned out, there was a funny crooss-over with the handgun world as they had a very similar problem. They needed a human/skin friendly oil and Frog Lube was the answer. It comes in a past and a liquid, both bright green—I preferred the liquid. While this worked it wasn’t handpan specific and had a VERY strong mint smell.
Enter Seal-1, a relative company of Frog Lube with a similar oil, orange in color, different but also strong smelling. One handpan maker did a deeper dive and discovered that Frog Lube, Seal-1, Culinary LCP and Tracklube were all derivatives of the same generic oil/wax. Tracklube is a bright blue natural lubricant used for Rollercoasters where Culinary LCP is sued in the culinary world to lubricate things like meat slicers. For that reason, it has to be VERY human friendly.
I settled on Culinary LPC for a number of years, even doing some testing of my own. I left a raw shell on my shop’s roof for a month with several different oils to be tested, including a wax that was developed by Josh Rivera of Veritas Handpans. Culinary LPC proved to be a viable option and I used that for years until a customer introduced me to Camellia oil. Fast forward to now, my answer is Phoenix Oil. Maybe it is time to celebrate that there is finally a handpan specific oil.
