Handpan Care
The care of your Mercury is very important.
Here you have all you need to enjoy your new instrument!
It doesn’t matter if your instrument is nitrided or stainless. A basic Care Routine is needed in order to give your Mercury a good and healthy live.We recommend taking care of your instrument every 2-4 weeks. If you live in a humid climate or near the sea, you will have to take care of your Mercury more frequently.
HANDPAN CARE ROUTINE
1. CLEAN IT
Wipe it using a paper or microfiber cloth with Alcohol 70 or 96%. This process is needed to remove any dust, so repeat it until the paper comes clean.
2. OIL IT
Once is clean on both sides, apply a few drops of any natural or specific handpan oil (coconut, olive or any oil of the list at the end of the article) and spread with a new paper towel or microfiber cloth.
3. WAIT FOR IT
Now is recommended to wait some hours or overnight so the oil stay on the surface and do the work.
4. WIPE IT
Now we need to wipe the instrument with a paper or microfiber cloth, taking off the excess of oil.
OIL OPTIONS
- Natural coconut or olive oil
- Phoenix Handpan Oil
- HandpanCare Handpan Oil
- Pure Sound Pan Wax
- FrogLube
- Ballistol Oil
WHAT TO DO IF MY INSTRUMENT STARTED TO RUST?
SAND IT: You will need alcohol with a percentage of 70% or greater. With an ultrafine Scotchbrite handpad (or similar) or a really fine sanding paper with grain 400, start sanding the rust affected areas with care. During this process is possible to take off some dark nitriding layer. Don’t worry, but try to get as much of the rust off as possible without taking off too much of that dark nitriding layer or stainless patina. Just make sure that the top layer of the rust has come off. You will always see these rust marks on your instrument, just see it like “war wounds”.
CLEAN IT: Now that it has no rust, clean it using a lot of alcohol and paper towels. This process is needed to remove any rust remains, so repeat it until the paper comes clean.
OIL IT: Now that is clean, you can oil it as regular and keep the “care routine” to prevent any rust in the future.