ch iIf we are going to discuss possible effects of mineral oil (liquid
paraffin) on thread there are at least two mechanisms which should be
considered.
The first is the ongoing debate about Dubbin which was used to
waterproof leather footballs and walking boots in my youth. The
practise was to cover the items in this dubious material before use
and *clean it off afterwards* in case it rotted the stitching. To
quote from wikipedia
------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbin
Ongoing conjecture abounds about whether the constituents of dubbin
promote rotting of the natural fibre stitching used to attach leather
pieces together. There are centuries of experience that suggests it is
safe, but selected pieces of literature have demonstrated some
deleterious effects on high?order cellulose structures by bacteria
which survive and propagate in the amino acids and fats contained in
tallow, one of the chief ingredients of dubbin.
---------------
While I avoid petroleum derived products for pipes because I fear
their aggressive nature I do not believe this is the mechanism.
The other mechanism I would suggest arises from an observation that
the thread bindings which should have been waxed appear quite dry on
pipes where liquid paraffin has been used. I suspect this is an effect
where the liquid paraffin is dissolving the wax leaving dry thread
which is more susceptible to abrasion.
This links in with my other concern about liquid paraffin, namely that
it will displace the natural oils out of the wood and then drain away,
because the paraffin is inert it has no way of interacting with the
chemical structure of the wood.
I like Neatsfoot oil because it combines well with beeswax. However,
the quality of Neatsfoot oil is very variable. I use Fiebing's which
is made in Milwaukee but is available from Le Prevo in Charlotte
Square Newcastle. This is very highly processed and has a low wax
content. Anyone who has issues with using bits of animals could try
Macadamia Nut oil which is apparently very similar chemically. I have
a bottle of this but have not as yet tried it.
Barry
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
