Hi All - I recently, and stupidly, dropped the head joint of my beautiful blackwood flute, and as a consequence, it inherited a few nice little surface scratches.
They are very superficial, do not in anyway affect playability, and as a matter of fact, being on the ‘back’ side of the barrel, are not even really noticeable to anyone but me.
BUT! They BUG me!!!
I’d really like to take care of them, so I can get some sleep
Any ideas on techniques, and/or products available to buff out these minor blemishes, and restore my flute to its maker-given glory?
BTW - these are not significant enough to justify the expense of a professional repair.
Steel wool will rough up the surface, you won’t be able to remove the scratch that way, you’ll always see the spot. The only way I know is to buff the complete joint to restore the finish without being able to see the spot afterwards.
I personally don’t bother, my flute certainly doesn’t look like new (scratches, a crack, the wood around the embouchure isn’t black anymore but brownish due to extensive playing) but that doesn’t matter. The sound matters.
Maybe you are right, but I will say that I’ve done this a number of times on blackwood flutes and it didn’t rough up the surface. Fine (or extra-fine) steel wool, of course. The scratch just disappeared.
By the way, I’m not determined to upbraid so much wood that the scratch, or ding, is entirely
gone. Just enough that it cannot be seen without peering at it.
I recently discovered manicure blocks; they have 4 sides - file, buff, polish and shine.
I used them to remove scratches, and highly polish, an old rosewood Bb marching flute very successfully.
There also very good for finger nails if you like that sort of thing.
How about posting a picture of the headjoint and the scratches, so that we can see how deep they are and where they are located? There are better ways than those that have been suggested so far, but how you proceed depends on where the scratches are, and how deep they go.
Please take note: Using flat objects to remove scratches from rounded objects mostly leads to the rounded objects becoming somewhat flat where said flat objects were applied…
i’m all for leaving it. i dropped my concertina on the pavement one night and nicked off a whole chunk of acorner, leaving exposed wood. i did nothing with it, and over the course of a year, it has darkened and rounded to the point where you can’t even see it. i tried to show it to someone over the summer, and they couldnt even see it.
weedie - I have used those in the past but now use foam blocks which conform to the shape of the object being polished much better.
I also fully accept the point Loren raised, that you could end up with a somewhat flat, and therefore thinner, surface; this is something I have used on cheap ebay purchases and I doubt I’d attempt it on my precious blackwood M&E, as Daiv said, maybe best left alone.
Hi Everyone - and thanks for the thoughtful commentary.
I was concerned about the flattening issue, and so I ended up using a rotary tool with a buffing pad attachment and very fine buffing compound and it worked like a charm. Took awhile, but you can’t even see the scratches anymore.
I also agree with the “character” comments, and would not have been so worried, especially since the scratches were on the backside of the head joint, and really not that noticeable.
However, my major concern was that, even though I really like this flute (its a Burns Standard, blackwood), I doubt that I will keep it in the long run, and I’m thinking the scratches could potentially be viewed as “damage” and will lessen the value of the instrument on the open market.
Perhaps I’m being overly paranoid, but that was my big issue.
