So Ive got a 2 piece wood D Flute. I would like to be able to dry the Bore with a cleaning Rod with cloth attached long enough to receive the rod without disassembling the Flute.. That said the rod I have is not nearly long enough. I would take the Flute apart often to do this one section at a time, but the fit of the Tenon is very snug and just a pain to disassemble frequently. Are there any plastic or wood Rods that are at least 22” long? Even a cleaning Rod for a Bass recorder is not long enough. I may go down to the local Music store and check to see if any rods made for Brass Instruments that would be long enough, or my Wife suggests going to Lowes to get a Dowel and connect a small metal Eyelet on the end to receive a bit of Cloth. Any Ideas?
I’ve been down this road myself since a lot of my flutes are one-piece and longer than a typical multi-section flute. I’ve never found anything remotely useful (for sale) and I’ve had to make my own, which is not terribly difficult.
Get a length of 1/4” wooden dowel (maple is good) that is the length that you want. If you have a dremel tool the next part will be easier, but a coarse needle file or rasp might work if you have one small enough. At one end I drill a few holes very close together and then using whatever tool is available I turn them into one long oval like on a typical cleaning rod.
Drilling might be a little tricky–be careful if you are free-handing. You can even use something like a small flat file that is heated with a torch to burn out the wood between the holes.
Thanks for the tip Geoffrey. I will definitely be entertaining. This idea. I’m going to check in my toolbox and see what I might have to make this happen.
I took the fabric approach when I made one for a friend, as I’m rubbish at woodwork!
I got a long cotton trainer / sneaker lace – which, when you cut the aglets off, is a knitted tube. I stitched up one end and sewed the middle of a long secondhand silk scarf to it, which took less than five minutes. Then I shoved a 3mm steel rod inside the open end of the lace. Voilà!
As the rod is only mild steel I advised her to pull it back out each time to let the fabric dry. It seems pretty effective, she’s been using it for two or three years now.
Ha! That’s pretty clever! I never would have thought of something like that in a million years. Great solution with no tools involved (well, a needle and thread, I suppose).
There might be something useful here…
One danger to be avoided with cleaning rods for conical flutes is making the cloth too thick and getting it stuck inside. If it’s thin enough to go through the narrow foot, it’s too narrow to do a great job swabbing the larger bores at the head and barrel end.
I get around that problem to some extent by using it as a push rod for the head and barrel and a pull through for the lower sections.
I once had to sort out a woodwind where the owner had tried to clean it by pushing a cloth through it using a chopstick. The cloth got jammed, so they tried to push it back out with another chopstick from the other end. The 2nd chopstick pushed past the first and jammed harder, making the problem much worse. I think I ended up having to “drill” bits of the chopsticks to pieces to get them out!
Be careful, always test the cloth in pull-through mode, before trying to push through!
Instead of a rod, you might take an approach like what you do on a saxophone. Obviously you can’t use a rod on a curved instrument. A saxophone cleaner is too big for a flute, but you could follow the same approach.
Make a cloth ball or cone of the right size and attach a string or cloth strip to it. On the other end of the string attach a small weight, like a fishing weight. You might want to wrap the weight in cloth if you don’t want a metal thing banging around inside your flute.
To use, drop the weight down your flute and grab the end of the string to pull the cloth through.
For the head you’d still need to use a rod, but it’s the other part of the flute that’s the problem, right?
A relative of what Moof said, I guess.
Yeah, it’s because inevitably we need a rod to push the cloth up into the head I went with the push rod / pull rod approach.
I reckon as long as you are careful to select (and carefully test) the right cloth to fit both head (push mode) and foot (pull mode), you can come up with a viable solution.
I normally go for a well worn men’s handkerchief, but it’s probably going to depend on what model of flute you play. A Prattens Perfected will accept more cloth than a Grey Larsen Preferred!
Either way, I’d go with pull mode at the foot end, and carefully!
Thank You everyone for the great suggestions and Info. I actually just bought a 3/8 “ Dowel at Lowe’s as well as some small brass eyelets to screw in on the tip of the dowel or Rod. the length of the dowel I used was 28 ‘. I threaded some cloth through the eyelet and went at it. It works very well, you just need to thread it in slowly so the Eyelet does not damage the bore.
Try rifle cleaning rods, they have a loop that can screw on the end.
If you talk to an old Amy person (like me 
) they will tell you than for a 7.62mm bore the cloth patch should be no large than a piece of 2*4 flannelette. This is a very easy fit -all you are trying to do is have the material in sufficient contact to remove surface moisture and dust, pressure is not required.
I was going to suggest the same approach as Fintano - as a bassoonist I have two weighted swabs, one for the tiny thin joint and one for the big boot joint. I find it reassuringly safe compared to sticking a big bit of metal down the middle of a flute.
I have always just used a dowel. Without an eyelet or anything on the top. I fold quite a lot of cloth (a discarded piece of silk) loosely over it for the head and can always pull out and push a bit more in. Only a little over the end for the body and it just slides back out without risk of jamming.
Am I missing something important by doing this?
I do use a weighted swab for oiling.