When I bought my folk flute Casey recommended that instead of using cork grease I use the wax that plumbers use under toilets. Although I found that idea a little less than appealing, I went ahead and went down to the hardware store and got some. That would be new wax, right out of the store guys, not wax that had been previously used.
I found that the stuff was messy and I didn’t like the color or texture of it, so I went down to the music store and got some regular cork grease in those plastic containers like my wife’s Bonne Bell Lip Smackers. They work fine and even smell nice, the cork grease, not the Bonne Bell (I got busted trying to steal one of hers and…well that is another story. I have been using the cork grease now for a few months and one day I ran out. I remembered that Loren said in one of the threads a few weeks ago that bag balm would work so I went out to the barn and got some. Yes, I live in the Midwest, and it is true we all have a can of bag balm in the barn, have for the last hundred years or so. Anyway, I have been using it now for the last three weeks and I gotta tell you that the corks are in better shape now than when I was using regular cork grease. The stuff is clean and easy to use and to clean up and if you get some on your hands well, that would be a good thing, just rub it in.
It comes in a 10 ounce can, (that is 10 oz not .10 oz) at least that is the size I have here in front of me, and I think I spent somewhere around five dollars for it. (I just called Farm and Fleet and it is $4.65) Compare that price with one of those little lip smacker thingies and I think you probably save two thousand million dollars going the bag balm way.
I just called the local music store and they said that one of those little lip smacker thingies of cork grease costs Two dollars and fifty cents! There is .15 oz in each one of them, I am reading it right off the tube, so if anyone wants to do the math, it is too much for my little mind, I think you will find that you can save some bucks using bag balm instead.
I play a GLP now and so I have cork rather then treads and as I said above, the corks are in better shape now then ever. I’m never going back to cork grease!
Score another point for Loren!!
Jim
Well, ifn’ its good enough for cow udders its good enough for me.
and that’s the udder truth.
So don’t be using any of the udder ones!
Now there’s a case of teat-for-teat.
You guys are realy milking this one ! 
Would they sell Bag Balm in Glascow?
I use bag balm on my horses! Never thought of the flute duh. If they get cut on a tree or something, I’ll cover it with bag balm so the flies can’t get to the wound - great stuff!
I like your quote, candis! What kind of horses do you have?
I just have to make sure when groping for cork emolient in the dark feed shed that I don’t mix the Bag Balm up with ichthamol or Kopertox or something equally gooky.
Back on the flute side … I’ve used Burt’s Bees lip balm in a pinch (at gigs, etc.). Probably not the best choice for long-term use (or equine owies), though …
there are a few non city types about…
I saw “Mane and Tail” in the grocery 
Burt’s Bees Balm! Yes, I didn’t think about that sticky stuff. That’d be good for areas on a horse where they would roll off the softer Bag Balm.
I have a 25 yr old Morgan & a 47 yr old (YES, people years) Halflinger that I adopted from a rescue farm; he had been so starved, he was surviving on tree bark & fenceposts (barely) so he has no teeth. They got ground away. Now he’s fat & sassy on his special pelleted feed that he gums & swallows whole. He chews hay, sucks on it, stores it in his cheek & spits it out in slimey green wads just like a bill snilly. Flute related - I play my flute for them & they cock their heads back & forth & stare at me. I think they like it . . .
Burt’s Bees Balm! Yes, I didn’t think about that sticky stuff. That’d be good for areas on a horse where they would roll off the softer Bag Balm.
I have a 25 yr old Morgan & a 47 yr old (YES, people years) Halflinger that I adopted from a rescue farm; he had been so starved, he was surviving on tree bark & fenceposts (barely) so he has no teeth. They got ground away. Now he’s fat & sassy on his special pelleted feed that he gums & swallows whole. He chews hay, sucks on it, stores it in his cheek & spits it out in slimey green wads just like a bill snilly. Flute related - I play my flute for them & they cock their heads back & forth & stare at me. I think they like it . . .
All the time here!
What I really want to know is if Bath & Body Works will ever start carrying the powder that cracks me up (pardonne the punne) every time I see it at our local tack shop …
“Anti Monkey-Butt”!!! http://antimonkeybutt.com/
oops! premature postulation …
That’s neat, candis. God bless you for rescuing that poor fella. And I think about the girl down the road who just paid $6,000 for a Halflinger WEANLING for her six-year old daughter …
(Sorry Den, she’s into Perch/TBreds … coughed up $25,000 for one of those a few years back – though maybe I should forward your stuff to her)
Anyway, bless you again. I’ve got one rescue who’s 21 now, and she owns my soul, – but she’s got pretty complex health issues so I don’t know how long she’s planning to stick around (sad, because I always kind of thought she’d outlive me, she’s so tough). My other three are 12, 6, and 6 – raised the two 6-year olds from yearlings and got the 12-year-old as a 2-year-old. What a crew, all major mudballs and fungal science experiments right now!
Not that you’d want to mess up a 47-year-old horse’s life (have you checked the Guinness book lately? Your guy might be heading there), but I’ve heard there are some vets here in Kentucky who are working on equine dental implants.
(As these goofballs live longer and longer, I guess it’s a consideration!)
But yes. Flutes, horses, books. Not necessarily in that order – depends on what’s kicking my rear end harder at the time!
I’ve only played my whistle a couple of times for the horses; I got the impression it wasn’t quite their bag.
Speaking of, back to Bag Balm …
Perch would be my second choice.
Some of our horses really like flute, none of them dislike it.
Whistle seems iffy.
I’ve been using Badger Balm for years. Great for the flute, fingers, lips. . . . . . .
BillG
I’ve been trying to preserve some old leather and softwood carvings, and conservators wax has been used (on a conservators recomendation). By accident, I found that it’s nice for cracked hands, and doesn’t wear off much. Well, after a polishing session, I picked up my large-holed keyless and WHAM! Ornaments just popped, everything worked so much better. It taught me that I have some big technique problems (sealing holes properly - I had thought I was OK), and to be careful what I’ve got on my hands when I touch a flute!
This wax is a microcrystaline silicone, so it is NOT oil-permeable. This is likely a very bad thing for a flute.
Back to Bag-Balm: someone very close to me has huge foot calouses from many happy childhood years running barefoot on the farm. If BB works for those, it’ll do anything!
[quote=“Chiffed”]I’ve been trying to preserve some old leather and softwood carvings, and conservators wax has been used (on a conservators recomendation). /quote]
Is that the same as Butcher’s Wax? I’ve been told I need some of that for a bench that sits on my porch. Need to do an Internet search because it’s certainly not in a store near me … thanks for the reminder!
Not sure. It’s Lee Valley Conservators’ Wax, pretty expensive stuff for a bench.