I took my flute apart today and buffed the silver parts. I also oiled the flute inside and outside. It looks pretty now, so shiny and new. Is there any possibility to keep this? The exterior starts to look dull again after a few days. The silver parts tarnish again in no time, too.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
Somebody once mentioned that woodwind wax would be good for the outside of a wooden flute, but I could not verify that. I just use a little oil on the outside from time to time and polish it when it needs it.
“Woodwind Wax” ??..that sounds like something that I should have in my kit..!!..
Could anyone please elaborate on what it is… and its uses ???
Thanks…
There are various types of waxes that can be applied to woods, but typically they would be the sorts of waxes, like Tripoli for example, which would require application via a buffing wheel. Not practical for most flute owners, and most wax finishes don’t last much longer than your typical oil finish anyway.
Longer lasting finishes can be applied, but then we’re getting into the realm of varnishes and the like, which are best applied by a maker experienced with such finishes.
Loren
What type of oil are you using?
Loren
i would say you would have to maintain it regularly. i’m not so sure you would need to do a full overhaul every day to keep it looking purty. i used to polish my silver flute after every time i used it, but i have since been less diligent.
I’ve been in the habit when I play to keep a cloth over my knee.
I have a black tea towl. Its good for any extra “moisture”, the occasional brew spillage (Heaven forbid) and a quick wipe down of the entire flute when she gets put away.
As daiv suggests, its a routine I kept from my silver flute playing days.
I also picked up a silver polish cloth that I keep handy by in my gig bag.
Aanvil, Clean and Sparkly, Aanvil
I used to polish my silver flute,
no, I didn’t… 
Ever since I got my relatively inexpensive wooden flute, my expensive silver flute has been slowly changing color…
Heh heh. I was playing in the session in Matt Malloy’s pub in Westport in 2002. It was very crowded. A man squeezed through behind my chair, holding a tray full of pints, and tripped over a chair leg or something, tipping the 3 or 4 pints down the front of a lady in a white dress sitting right beside the session with her back to the wall. I remember her face as it all unfolded, joie de session turning to concern, then fear, horror and shock as the cool liquid infused through her attractive outer casing. A hush fell over the place - I’m sure everyone expected fireworks. But as she caught her breath, she laughed and said - well I’m not going to give up this seat! Tea towels were called for, arrived, and brigaded sodden back to the bar. Fresh pints followed, this time professionally delivered, and we played on with renewed vigour.
But back to the topic. I normally find that blackwood with an oiled finish takes on a nice patina with handling that doesn’t really require much care. If however a high lustre wax has been applied, this is likely to rub off with handling and will need to be replenished. Ask the maker how they finished it and what they recommend to maintain that finish.
Silver will lose its lustre at a rate dependant upon the level of pollutants in the atmosphere. Those who used to live near gasometers will remember the effort mum had to put into keeping the silverware clean. Best thing with silver is not to let it get too corroded, as quite a bit of effort will be needed to bring it back. Get a silver cleaning cloth from a music store or jewellers and give the keys a rub over every week, or as soon as they appear to be dulling. It’s no effort if done weekly.
We used to live in Ballarat in Victoria, a mining town that had a gasometer. When we moved to the cleaner air of Canberra around 1960, Mum asked me what she could use to clean her silverware. I recommended hypo (sodium thiosulphite, Na2 SO3 from memory) and it worked a treat. Unfortunately, Mum reasoned it also should work on aluminium saucepans. They turned black! Needless to say, it was all my fault.
Terry
What, pray tell, is a gasometer? Cheers,
Rob
A large, expandable structure for holding natural gas. What this has to do with air quality I can’t guess.
You could always stop playing it and put it in a nice glass display case
I use a blend of glycerin and hydroxyethyl cellulose. It gets slippery at times but it does stay nice and shiny.
Hrmph…
Its a meter that measures gas usage in homes.
The apex of home cooking is achieved by a gas powered stove.
Electric stoves just can’t obtain the instant shadings of heat that a gas stove can.
Interestingly two of the many houses I have lived in the past 15 years had gasometers and I have never ever had to polish the silver
on my Irish flute. (And I lived in Sydney for a spell, the most polluted city in the South Pacific).
Rob asked:
What, pray tell, is a gasometer? Cheers,
srt19170 replied:
A large, expandable structure for holding natural gas. What this has to do with air quality I can’t guess.
srt19170 is almost correct, gasometer are/were the large collapsible cylinders, we’re talking very large here, which were used for the storage of gas and usually found around towns and industrial areas. However in the era Terry refers to they, I remember it well, would have been used for the storage of coal, not natural, gas; a particularly toxic and hazardous substance producing much more in the way of pollutants than it’s successor.
That’s a gasometer, quite empty at the moment the photo was taken. I see that one regularly when driving to our local session, it’s funny how the fill level fluctuates.
@Loren: I use “La Tromba Special Oil For Woodwind-Instruments with Silicone. Guarantee free of Acid.” It’s a syntethic oil. I like it quite much, doesn’t smell, drys fast, I’m not allergic to it.
Until now I wasn’t able to remove all the tarnish from the silver. Is it possible that the remaining spots “infect” the silver again and that’s why they tarnish so fast? No chemist here, so just a guess. 
The silver rings on my boxwood flute were remarkably shiny and pure. I have no idea why there was not a speck of tarnish. Perhaps Casey has a secret for that. Or maybe they are really stainless steel.
Or nickel. I don’t think that tarnishes.
Bingo! Give the man a prize. 