Anyone like and use Blue juice valve oil?

improver · Heavyweight Member Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Posts: 1470

Opinions?

MalinTrumpet · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 8:35 am Post subject: Blue Juice

Years ago I worked at the Woodwind and Brasswind in NYC. (long gone) Phil Smith bought a few bottles. I figured if it was good enough for him it was good enough for me. Been using it ever since.

LCM

JayKosta · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 8:45 am Post subject:

I don't know if it's Blue Juice, but one brand of valve oil smells like commercial toilet cleaner to me.

Jay
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Andy Cooper · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 9:15 am Post subject:

Yes - I've used it for years on different horns - monel and plated. I find it a very "smooth" oil. I can't attest to it being blazingly fast since I am not. I think there is a slight build up over time which I like. I'm always annoyed when I get a horn chem cleaned and have to start over with the oiling process until it feels right. Normal cleaning with Dawn dish soap does not strip the oil.

I have a trombone playing friend who uses Blue Juice too. It must work fairly well - he plays 8th position from time to time...

I have only found one horn it doesn't work on - on 50's Conn. For it I had to switch to La Tromba

adc · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 9:17 am Post subject:

Probably the all around best oil. Its like car oils...a highly charged topic. It does appear to keep the horn cleaner. It lasts a long time. If you have a horn where valve clearances are high. Its not the best choice. I have a couple horns that Blue juice will require more frequent oiling on one particular valve.
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kalijah · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 10:38 am Post subject:

I have never had a problem using blue juice. Has worked very well on every instrument I own.

Its smell is also less offensive than other oils i have used.

Dennis78 · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 10:52 am Post subject:

I’ve got a couple bottles. I hate the stuff. Produces sticky valves on whatever I use it on. Just no good for me. I love the smell though. And I do use it on other mechanical things. It seems to keep my reels running smooth and just like WD40 it’s an excellent fish attractant
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a few different ones

kehaulani · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 10:53 am Post subject:

Jaw04 · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 12:39 pm Post subject:

I don't like blue juice, it made my valves feel great while it was freshly applied and within hours they were sticky again.

Crazy Finn · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 12:39 pm Post subject:

I've said it many times here on TH, I think Blue Juice is garbage - the worst valve oil I've ever used or seen. Even the generic store brand oil is better because - at worst - it will simply evaporate and not lubricate as opposed to sludge and gunk up your horn.

This is not only my opinion, but the opinion of every brass tech I've talked to locally. They've expressed that opinion to me freely, without me prompting them on an opinion on Blue Juice specifically. Several techs actually said - if someone comes in to the shop with valve issues, I'd bet your there's a bottle of this $^%^ in there.

Rather than retyping my previous thoughts, I'll quote one here:

slipperyjoe · Regular Member Joined: 26 May 2020 Posts: 18

My preferred valve oil for trumpets, euphoniums and tubas for years. New and vintage horns. It's light, slick, each application lasts a long time and I like the smell. Never a problem.

theslawdawg · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 12:53 pm Post subject:

I would only use it if I had no other choice.
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Vin DiBona · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 1:07 pm Post subject:

My horns work OK with it at first, but a couple days later, the valves slow up. It could be that it doesn't like my chemistry, but that makes it unusable for me.
Ultra Pure never does that.
R. Tomasek

shofarguy · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 1:13 pm Post subject:

I have used it in years past. I liked it, along with Zaja brand oil.
Since meeting Flip Oakes, I have been using his valve oil, which he supplies to his customers that come by his shop. Flip tells me it was developed with Blue Juice as a base target. I like Flip's oil the best.

A couple of years ago, one of our TH members sent his large bore Martin Committee down to me for a few weeks. The valves were very iffy, so I did a thorough cleaning and oiled it up with FO oil. I never had any more trouble with the Martin's valves and I sent one or two bottles back with the horn. The owner mentioned how much better the valve action was.

Out here in the Arizona summers, it evaporates pretty quickly, but it still outperforms anything else I've tried. The only possible downside is that it sometimes leaves a paraffin residue in the water key ports that eventually plugs the port. That cleans right out with warm water and/or compressed air, though.
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dershem · Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 4:41 pm Post subject:

I used Blue Juice for years and never had any trouble with it. (I use Black now, and like it a lot better, but everyone has their own issues and their own solutions).
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Andy Cooper · Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 4:41 pm Post subject:

This is an old link but it may shed some light on why some of us like Blue Juice and some of us do not.

https://www.nemc.com/resources/articles/valve-oil-the-more-you-kno_54

(This was written by MusiChem Pro-Oil. I can't find them listed anymore.)

Blue Juice is a very low viscosity oil so in some horns it has the potential to be very fast and stays on the valves a reasonable time before evaporating. On the other hand it has somewhat weak "film strength" so it may not perform well in "hyper-tight" valves and could very well lead to sticking with those valves.

Most of my horns are fairly tight but not Schilke tight, I wipe off my valves and oil generously every time I play - and clean at least every 3 weeks.

Keep trying oils - eventually you will find something that works in your horn.

Bill_Bumps · Veteran Member Joined: 07 May 2019 Posts: 164

Never heard of Blue Juice, so I can't comment on that.

I use Yamaha Synthetic Vintage oil on my Selmer K-M. I've had no problems whatever with it