so i have a 4-piece mcgee blackwood flute that i love, but i live in arizona and the lack of humidity here just causes me constant problems. (it shrinks, the rings fall off, and i can’t get fit all the pieces together.)
(right now i’m doing the wet sponge in a plastic box method, instead of a real humidor, which is probably part of my problem?)
anyway, so what i’m wondering is, maybe from my fellow Arizonians (i know you’re out there , is there another wood that maybe isn’t as dependent on water in the air to work properly?
i have some delrin flutes, and they’re nice, but the blackwood flute is nicer still. so i’m wondering, maybe there’s something in the middle? maybe boxwood doesn’t expand/shrink as much due to humidity? or pink ivory, cherry, lancewood, et al?
or maybe i should just buy a one-piece flute, but i travel a lot and being able to break it down into smaller pieces is a big advantage…
Boxwood’s even more sensitive; I wouldn’t go there. Cocus is a bit harder but still shrinks like the dickens. Blackwood’s pretty much the easiest to get along with in my book.
Have you tried putting the case inside a big Ziploc bag with the sponge?
I put a Humistat inside each of my blackwood flutes’ cases and then keep them and their friends inside a box with yet another Humistat; that seems to work pretty well down to about 20% RH. I don’t keep a Humistat in one boxwood flute’s case because it swells too much but my other boxwood flute warps if I don’t. They’re all different that way. Fortunately, these are really cheap:
As far as getting the joints to go together, just wrap some Teflon (plumber’s) tape around them whenever you’re going to play; then take the tape off after you’re done. When the flute gets better hydrated you won’t need it as much.
If your rings are falling off you need to be fixing the situation right away. A piece of dental floss or waxed piper’s hemp under the ring can help in the meantime, but first and foremost you really need to start working on rehumidifying it (gradually is best), especially if you want to eventually sell the flute in uncracked condition.
I always recommend a cigar humidifier (one or more, available from cigar stores or any number of online retailers), a tupperware or rubbermaid container, and a digital hygrometer, also available from any number of online retailers. You don’t want to go below around 40-45%, and not above around 60-65%, above which you’ll grow mold unless you open the container daily. If your humidity is too low, get another humidifier, if it’s too high, let things dry out a little or better yet get a smaller humidifier or a bigger container. Total investment is around $25-35, and it’s definitely worth it.
50% is just right!
If your flute has a wooden case, you can get a cool cake box 12x17" that is made by sterlite, gives room for a sponge in baggy, and a humidistat, and maybe a wooden whistle too.
Not sure if anyone makes an irish flute out of it but I’ve seen Native American flutes made out of Mesquite and I know it makes a good guitar tonewood.
It seems to be a pretty stable wood, more so then boxwood or blackwood. You’d have to talk to one of the makers around here though to see if anyone has ever used it in a flute and what their results were. It grows in smaller bushes and trees so it’s probably similar to Boxwood in that it’s tougher to get pieces of a good size without too many knots.
Boxwood is more sensitive to humidity then blackwood from what I’ve seen and read so I don’t think you want to go the boxwood route…
One more time: OIL DOES NOT MOISTURIZE. OIL WATERPROOFS.
Thank you.
Ok, it does moisturize some, but oiling does not replace a properly humidified environment. Oiled wood is perfectly capable of shrinking pretty fast, too. In fact you oil your flute to help protect it from getting soaked by condensation. Note how an oiled flute drips a lot more – it does that because the oil is doing its job and REPELLING moisture! They’re two different things, guys!
To waterproof you need some sort of drying sealant on the surface of the wood, both inside and out. This also traps what moisture exists in the wood. I’ve occasionally done this with a wipe-on polyurethane sealer for flutes going to desert climes. I commonly use deck sealant on the endcgrain of my flutes, especially boxwood.
I’ve seen freshly oiled flutes still swell up at the tenons, indicating that moisture from one’s breath is still getting into the wood, through the oil.
The purpose of oiling, as I understand it, is to keep the wood from becoming brittle. Its similar to leather. Repeatedly get it wet and the natural oils that keep it supple are eventually leached out and it becomes brittle. Except when you oil it.
Some other ideas, sealing the end grain on the tenons with CA glue on a blackwood flute help to keep the tenon from swelling. Tung oil is also a good sealing oil, you can get it with a citric solvent that is non toxic. Personally, I prefer to just humidify the flute when not in use, I take my antique flutes with me to the desert without any problems.
Any idea if these sterlite boxes can be purchased on-line? I’ve been looking everywhere for some kind of “tupperware” in which to store my Martin Doyle, but the flute is 2-piece and the container would have to be at least 16" long. All plastic containers I’ve found with that length are huge 20 liter tubs. In the meantime I’ve been using a plastic trash bag with a humistat inside, but that’s getting tiresome.
You’ll need to go pretty big to get a 16" section in a box (I think at least 10 quarts), but Sterilite products are widely available, including on Amazon.
inside is one folk flute, a 6 key F flute, a C/Bb/A combo and a bunch of odds and ends including a small jar with part of a sponge in it. (and whatever I’ve forgotten)
Different woods smell different. I like the smell of my mopane flute, but when it has been recently oiled it doesn’t smell of mopane. Molecules of something are getting my nose. Anyone any idea what those molecules are ?
Thanks, Casey. I stand corrected – “waterproof” is indeed too strong and broad a word. And I totally agree with the leaching part of what you’re talking about, especially after repeated applications of dry and wet.
But I still can’t believe that mere oiling is sufficient for replacing what’s leached out by a dry environment, and it worries me when I see people think that oiling the flute once a month will somehow counter the other 30 days of dry air. I mean, the OP’s rings are falling off, so there’s obviously some serious shrinkage that his oiling isn’t resolving.
In my experience, a flute’s tenons may swell a bit after oiling, but nothing like they do when soaked after a few hours’ playing (especially after the deck seal or tung oil or whatever on the grain end wears off, which is why I oil the grain ends too), or like they do when properly humidified.
Finally, I go back to why we oil other things. We don’t oil cloth to make it more flexible, and that certainly isn’t why we use oil-based sealant or paint on our decks. One doesn’t oil one’s uilleann pipe chanter as a rule and it generally does just fine. So it seems to me it’s moisture that changes the game, and thus oiling helps keep oil and wood from mixing.
thanks everybody. i’ll try getting a better box and a humidifier. the problem is i travel a lot (i’m on the road for about 3 weeks right now) and i can’t be monitoring it. the sponge doesn’t last; it dries out way before i get back.
so mesquite grows all around where i live; this might be a great idea. does anyone know if anyone has tried to make a flute out of it? i can probably get a piece, i had a friend that sold mesquite products (i still have one of his cutting boards who could probably help me find some.
A former student brought me a piece of mesquite from Texas that I will make into a whistle sometime - not sure its seasoned well enough yet, and living in a damp Ohio climate I will probably have to make the wood dryer/Kiln thingy that I have bits for but have not put together yet to really get the wood dry (I have this on my radar screen in order to get Harp fronts/sound boards dry - important to prevent cracks - maybe it would be easier to move to a dry climate!)
So short story long, I’m going to make a whistle with mesquite but have not done so yet.
So why am I posting? … beats me … but I might have an answer in the near future, and maybe someone else will chime in.
, is there another wood that maybe isn’t as dependent on water in the air to work properly?
