Hello there,
I know this has been covered before and I have looked at some old threads, but how does one actually go about getting
the dark mold out of boxwood flutes. The mold is (I assume it’s mold based on the old threads it is dark blackish stuff in the headjoint
areas. Lavender oil is suggested but but how do I use it. I assume don’t soak the headjoint in it it. Just rub it on with a flute cloth after removing the cork or is there a better method. Do I need to scrub or will the lavander oil take it off? UV light is another thing mentioned do I just put the flutes out in the sun with the moldy area pointed at the rays? Any other tips for this? Will I actuall be able to remove the dark stuff or has it stained the flute forever? Sorry for my ignorance, Thanks Pat
You might check with your local wood turning groups (associated with the AAW) to see if anyone has techniques on bleaching wood.
I don’t worry about blue stain if the wood is otherwise structurally sound. Though usually I try to pick out boxwood that doesn’t have any.
Casey
Am I right in thinking that here dunnp is asking for advice on cleaning up an old boxwood flute that has gone mouldy in disuse, not about manufacturing from boxwood with those black mould stains in the grain as raw, unturned billets? I shouldn’t think one could entirely get the latter to vanish, but in cleaning up a gungy old instrument one needs with box to be wary of using any solvent that might actually wash any stain from surface mould-growth into the grain by capillary action, as it might then be rather hard if not impossible to remove? This isn’t such an issue in cleaning up cocus or grenadilla, but blonde box (also softer) is rather more of a problem.
Hi Jem and Casey,
Thanks for the replies. The flutes are all boxwood unlined Olwell and Casey Burns flutes that have gone a bit black from use. I never had this happen on a lined flute I can get some of it off when oiling as flute flags come out blackened when I oil up the headjoints. Even swabbing out after playing has not stopped the headjoints from going blacker. It was very dry where I used to gig so I often left moisture in there for the wood.
I used to smoke when playing the Olwell so thought ughh imagine what my lungs must look like. I rarely smoke anymore and never while playing and things are still blackening up so I’m thinking it must be some type of mold. I’ve never had any lung problems from it but am not allegic to anything or asmathic but comestically the flutes would be better if things weren’t going black.
I looked up a few things on bleaching and it seems might discolor the wood to white or affect my lungs if I tried to play the flutes again but maybe not. I don’t mind about the black just wondering? I remember the camo looking keyed Murray that had bluish greenish stains all over.Years ago I also saw an Olwell that had sat unused in an supposedly airtight case with an apple for moisture for a year or two.This flute looked done to me but came back looking and working fine from some repairer or possibly Olwell. Can’t remember exactly how it looked when it came back. This is only in the headjoints and not on or in the rest of thes flutes And if I sell the Olwell I would want to clean it out as best I can before so and not sell a flute that may harm someone?
Thanks, Pat
And here I thought someone had finally figured out how to pour boxwood into a flute mold…
Damned disappointing, really…
It might simply be dirt and staining from your hands. This happens in all woods - even blackwood. Its just the background color of the darker woods hide it.
Could you post pictures of both flutes?
Casey
I just wrote a reply and it dissappeared but the gist was: my problem is mold not dirt or handstaining and it is in the headjoint not outside or further down the flutes:
The following link adresses the issue from a recorder maker: http://www.recorderhomepage.net/disinfect_en.pdf
The headjoints look like the recorder in the pdf:
I am going to try mouthwash to kill it as it has ethyl alcohol and thymol
What about trying to get the stain out not the mold?
Another question - how well oiled are the flutes and with what oil? The oil you use might inhibit or enhance this effect. I stay away from vegetable oils such as almond for that reason.
Some of this occurs from salts and other stuff that comes from saliva and breath. A good reason perhaps to wipe your flute clean after playing. Its been my observation that some players’ flutes build up quite the deposits in the bores of their instruments.
Personally, I wouldn’t worry about it and just accept it as part of the aging process, if its just minor. But do keep up with the oiling and use an appropriate oil. Avoid any type of mechanical removal that would affect the embouchure or bore. And perhaps wipe the bore down after playing.
Hello again,
I originally wrote a much longer reply but it dissapeared somehow and I didn’t have time to write another.
I figure mouthwash and a toothbrush can do no harm and nothing scraping the wood. I always used commercial bore oil and a good deal of it which may have been a factor but the flutes sounded better after a good oiling, drying then playing, but because it was very dry in Lanzarote and I needed to play the flutes every night nearly at gigs I always preferred the flutes to be real wet for
better response. Unlined boxwood flutes sound best to me after a good hour warmup which I often had time for. My lined flute does not have this mold or it doesn’t take on metal. A lot of flutes probably don’t see as much action if you will. I am lucky in that my night job was gigging and my day job was practicing.
Flutes are meant to be played not coddled but there you go and therein may lie some of the problem.
So my plan is lavander oil as recommended by Jon C. in an old thread if I can get it at a health store
and a very diluted bleach solution for a quick clean and if no lavander oil can be had mouthwash as it is mainly alcohol and water and has thymol as recommended in the recorder article. I looked for other cleaners of mold and mildew and most said
wear gloves when handling. Can’t be good to swab with and then expect to play. The flutes still sound fine. I am just worried they
may cause me or a future player harm, but then again I am not asthmatic or allergic to anything.
Anyone have a blackened light colored flute that they removed the stain (i.e. not just killed the mold antiseptically and then cleaned)
safely from wood?
I once saw a set of pipes that had been blackened in a fire and then put in a moldy environment clean up really well.
thanks, Pat
Sunlight is also a good killer of mold, but getting it to shine into the bore would be difficult. I would like to find a thin UV light that I could slide in the bore, to kill the mold, anyone come across such a light? Lavender oil did help, but I still had to clean and polish the bore with white 3M pads.
Hi again,
Which type of 3m pad I see loads of different white 3m pad products and do you mean clean and polish by hand or on the lathe or like something of a buffer wheel. I suppose soemthing could be rigged up from a dremel tool if one doesn’t have the necessary tools? Thanks for all the help, much appreciated. Pat
Mirrors! 
I see these called “germicidal light bulbs” - here for example:
http://www.expresslightbulbs.com/4-watt-g4t5-uv-germicidal-fluorescent-light-bulb-2-pin-p-353.html
They have a range of them at different wattages. The one in the link is 5.3" x 0.61" so should fit a headjoint…There should be thinner ones around. I’m not sure if they give off heat as well though, which would tend to rule them out…
Garry
now you’ve done it, we’ve been keeping those from him for years now 
Just the flat pads, white is the finest, you can tape it on a thin wood dowel and twist it by hand to get the surface crude off.
I will check out the lamps, I thought about mirrors, but would a reflected light still have the UV powerful enough to kill the mold?
Thank you Jon, Casey, Jem and the rest of you,
Should get me going to clean out the old beasties now. Take care until the next thread. Pat
Peter, your problem is making me dredge up past mycological information from my past as a mushroom cultivator. No not that kind, rather shii-take. Your problem is caused by members of the Lachrymans family. Probably Merulius or Serpulans which are the common forms of “wood-rot”. The spores were probably already in the wood, just waiting for a suitable environment: warm and moist and dark.
I am not sure how to remove the stains already there. . .they were caused by lignicolus enzymes produced by the fungi, produced to “digest” the cellulose and lignins in the wood. If they are on the surface they may be cleanable. If a bit deeper in the wood, not so much.
UV is a thought, but not quite to the mark. A very dilute solution of hydrogen peroxide would be much more effective. Most naturally occurring peroxide is created by UV falling on water anyway, and the UV would need to be fairly energetic to do more than kill living mycelia (fungus cells) and still may not kill the spores.
Most commonly available pharmaceutical hydrogen peroxide runs about 3 percent by volume. At a dilution of ten or fifteen parts to one, the solution will readily kill and inhibit the mold spores from further growth and not act as a “bleach”. Periodically swabbing out the head with such a solution will prevent further growth. I am, however, at a loss to advise you on any stain removal.
Yours,
molding away for a response,
Bob
edited 1 time for spelling
Beats me. Try it out on a vampire. If he bursts into flame, then I’d think it would work fine.
I was only joking about the mirrors, Jon!
I don’t know how well UV light would work in there, what with the spores bedded into the wood - might kill the worst of it and make it easier to remove more of it by polishing I suppose. Once the worst of it has been removed then if the bore is kept swabbed and oiled any mold spores in there won’t be able to get going.
Garry
Hmmm, I wonder about the UV lights dentists use to cure composite fillings.
Problem with UV is that the mold needs to be exposed to the light. Cracks, groves, etc. prevent this. 70% EtOH is often used to sterilize, but I don’t know what it would do to the oils in the wood. The mentioned H2O2 solution also sounds good.