I have a new wooden D whistle - couple of months old - which I’m getting along with quite fine apart from one thing…it had been pickled at birth in linseed oil which, in spite of the fact I have kept it open to the air at all times, still leaves the most dreadful aftertaste (I have just followed it up with an hour on an Abell and can STILL taste it.
Are there oils as good but more user-friendly for proofing whistles and what can (seriously!!) be done to get rid of the taste?
Trisha
i don’t know if it’s more user friendly, but neetsfoot oil is suppose to be good but not very tasty. but it’s best to contact the maker about this.
first - Conbtact the maker and ask him/her.
second - you may try Almond oil as it seems to be commonly suggested and generally doesn’t leave an aftertaste (that I’ve found).
B~
Plenty on hand…I use it for shining up the horns on my sheep for agricultural shows 
. But I’d imagine there are additives…
Trisha
Brian, I use Almond on my “taste-free” wooden whistles and it is indeed good, but this whistle is still exuding linseed ad nauseum. Like the whistle, hate the taste :roll:
Trisha
Hi, Trisha.
Linseed oil and almond oil are very different things.
Linseed polymerizes to a permanent or semiperminent, hard film. Almond is a non-hardening oil.
Did the maker provide instructions for oiling the whistle? Unless the maker has given specific instructions to do so, generally, one would need to be very cautious about applying or reapplying linseed oil to a whistle, because the hardened film can build up inside the bore and toneholes and change how the whistle plays.
If you’ve been instructed to reapply linseed oil and are looking for an alternative, tung oil would be the logical substitute. It is considered superior to linseed by some instrument makers, being more impervious to moisture and harder. Of course, check with the maker on substitions, but tung oil should work at least as well as linseed and probably better.
On the other hand, if you’re just looking for ways to reduce or eliminate the linseed smell, time and airing out will do that. You might look for a way to store it so it stays exposed to circulating air, which will help the process along.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Hi Jerry - haven’t applied anything as it still seems oily. I keep it in a loose tube totally open to the air but out of direct light. How long before the linseed “hardens” I wonder? Tung oil seems better behaved - I have it on Native American flutes with no problems at all.
Must be a clever way of ensuring I don’t overplay a new wooden whistle 
Thanks,
Trisha
Linseed oil tastes like paint. Very yucky. (It is paint, actually.)
Are you getting the taste from the part of the mouthpiece that touches your lips, or sort of as a vapor from the whole whistle?
Depending on the design of the whistle, you might be able to clean out the Linseed with acetone, which is the main ingredient in nail polish remover. It is a terrific solvent and evaporates completely. BUT-- definitely check with the maker first. Acetone will dissolve a shellac or lacquer finish also.
How long have you had the whistle? It may just be a matter of time. Also, UV light polymerizes these hardening oils, so keeping it in the dark may actually slow the drying process.
At the recommendation of Glenn Schultz, I usually use a 5:1 mix of LIGHT olive oil and almond oil with a couple of drops of Vitamin E on my whistles. One recent exception is a salvage timber Birdseye Maple whistle on which I used Tung oil for it’s hardening properties. Maple is relatively soft and porous compared to the exotic tropical woods and I wanted the extra protection.
I have switched from linseed (raw) to almond because I tended to get a bit of an adverse skin reaction from linseed and didnt like the taste.
Oh and a rag with almond oil on won’t spontaineously combust like those with linseed…which is nice.
Thanks Paul…I’ll give it some light as well as air. It’s a couple of months old now. The taste is definately in the whole mouthpiece.
Mat, I had lip numbness the first time I played this whistle, and I know someone else commented on this in another post with the same whistle.
Trisha
I wouldn’t use neatsfoot on wood. It’s derived from animal oils and fats (lanolin) and best suited for conditioning leather products. Besides, it has a strong unpleasant smell.
http://www.josephlyddy.com.au/neatsfoot_oil.htm
Jerry and Paul are on the right track. Check with the maker first. Tung and raw linseed are sealing types and almond or olive are penetrating oils that don’t have a harsh odor. I’ve cleaned a few antique wooden recorders with mineral oil that worked well.
I would NOT recommend TUNG oil anywhere your mouth will be as it is POISONOUS. Virgin extract almond oil is an excellent wood oil.
God Bless,
David
I believe we’ve been through this tung oil debate before. It’s my recollection that pure tung oil isn’t toxic, but some tung oil preparations contain toxic additives. I could be mistaken, but I think we went through this in a previous thread. If anyone can clear this up, I would appreciate not having to redo the research.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Pure tung oil, meaning 100% tung oil, is nontoxic, but most tung preparations have some kind of drying agent in them. So, you have to find pure tung if you want to use tung.
Look at www.realmilkpaint.com and you’ll see n entry on real tung.
Stuart
Thanks, Stuart.
This would be equally true of linseed oil. Hardware store “boiled linseed oil” contains driers that would be the same as in the tung oil preparations we’re concerned about. In either case, only pure linseed or tung oil should be used for our purposes.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Although I’m a total newbie regarding whistles, I might as well throw in my two cents regarding linseed oil.
Regular linseed oil is very slow to dry, so I originally used “sun-thickened” linseed oil on a number of wood projects. That’s what’s used in artists’ oil paints (which is why I had it on hand), so it’s generally available in art supply stores. It dries relatively quickly, but is a bit on the expensive side.
Once I bought some wood carvings and applied linseed oil that was aimed at furniture finishers, and it was tacky for a long time. It was relatively clear, while the oil I used for painting had a decided yellow tint to it.
Even the sun-thickened oil can take a week or so to dry (assuming a very thin coat).
If sunlight won’t hurt the wood of your whistle, then exposing at least the mouthpiece to the sun might hasten the drying process. I guess it depends on the wood–and how well it was cured in the first place. I would certainly contact the maker–if nothing else, then to perhaps save future customers from having the same problem.
Thanks Mike for such a useful post. I mailed the maker and pointed him to the thread earlier.
Great avatar too 
Trisha
I think the main thing you need to do to get tung or linseed to polymerize quickly is thin them, right? That’s why artist’s linseed and woodworker’s tung oils are often cut with mineral spirits or turpentine.
I believe there are also ways to thin either (tung or linseed) with solvents that aren’t toxic. That site I mentioned before also sells a citrus-peel-oil based solvent which they say is FDA-GRAS (generally redarged as safe), which might make a nice choice with tung.
I have been using linseed oil on the outsides of my flutes as a kind of varnish, I guess. I have the kind of skin chemistry that tends to raise the grain of some timbers, and it seems that if I give the flute a thin coat of linseed and allow it to dry, my skin doesn’t raise the grain so easily. I haven’t ever used tung oil, but maybe that would be a good choice for me.
Hmm!
Stuart
You know, though, as far as the outside of the flute goes, reading more it would appear that with linseed (and tung), the accelerating agent (or solvent) is thought to evaporate as the finish hardens, leaving a nontoxic varnish.
So maybe it doesn’t matter . . . ? I guess from a flute/whistle maintenance perspective, I would hesitate to use any drying oils on the bore, but a nice drying oil on the outside might leave a nice, protective finish.
Stuart