In a week or so I will finally receive my 6 keyed african blackwood R&R! I can’t wait!! I am a total beginner (got recorder, tinwhistle and harp experience) and as the instrument I am getting is not the cheapest, I would like to know if anyone could give me some advice on how to take care of the flute properly. I’ve read somewhere that there is a limited amount that you should only practice at the beginning and so on…Would be great to get some kind of advice!
The best you can do about this is: ask the maker what he thinks about it.
You can also do a search in the forums as this topic has been discussed quite often already.
Casey Burns’ site has a good pdf on his site you can print out on how to care for the flute. He also sends it with the flute. Not sure if everything in there applies to a keyed flute.
http://caseyburnsflutes.com/ffcare.pdf
I find it extremely impossible to play it for only a few minutes. I hope my relatively drier climate will make up for the relatively longer than a few minutes playing time. 
Welcome to the fluting world! I am totally in love with mine.
Ah, keys: never ever oil the flute without either dismantling the keys or wrapping the key pads in plastic wrap before you oil it, as the oil will destroy the pads.
Have to disagree heartily with that. I have oiled my eight-key since the mid 80s, and the flute is still playing down to the low C with ease and the same pads.
If you’re using so much oil that it actually gets on the pads, you’re seriously using too much. About five drops on a swab will thoroughly coat the bore with a thin film of oil, which is all that is required. I do it about once a month if I am playing regularly.
Which kind of oil are you using? Oils which harden can (and will, with time) destroy the pads. Non-hardening oils will only make them, well…oily, and maybe smelly, depends on the oil. And I really don’t believe that you need only five drops to oil the entire flute…
I use garden-variety bore oil from my local music store. My head-joint and barrel joint are lined, so I oil the center two pieces as one, and the foot joint gets the residual.
never ever oil the flute without either dismantling the keys or wrapping the key pads in plastic wrap before you oil it, as the oil will destroy the pads.
Nonsense. Been oiling flutes for twenty years, I use the keys, and the pads are fine. And I only use a minimal amount of oil.
Gabriel, how long have you been oiling your flutes?
When I got my keyed blackwood flute from Patrick Olwell, he recommended playing it for only a half hour at a time for the first week, the an hour at a time for the next week, and so on. I found I still had to be careful about changes in humidity, long gigs, and suchlike for about the first year I had it. If your tenons swell up to the point that your joints get stuck together, you should be able to get them apart by wrapping a rubber band around the flute to give yourself more traction.
Re bore oil, the conventional wisdom is that, yes, oil will eventually degrade your pads if you slop gallons of it around your bore, but use the stuff sparingly and you’ll come out ok. Putting a little piece of plastic wrap under each pad while you’re oiling will do no harm.
I purchased ordinary bore oil from my music shop. It is very thin and the tiniest bit spreads very easily. I assume because of these properties that you do not need to apply very much. Is that a correct assumption? How about to the inside of a new flute? It looks less smooth in there.
The advise given by Casey Burns, as above, is very good, except for the part about rolling the flute to tune it, but at least that won’t harm the flute.
I use artist grade linseed oil. It works.