Any recommendations for substances and tools for cleaning the bore of a chanter?? (I’m not talking about a light dusting either). Thanks
Alan
something like this??
Geeez Tony, you have pictures of brushes as well? ‘for all your piping needs’. Top work!
Yes I guess that would do it. Now for the wood friendly cleaning fluid??? (can you manage a pic of that?)
Alan
I guess this is safe enough for raw wood… personally, I’d use:
My flute maker recommends filtered raw linseed oil. I imagine the same would work for UPs.
djm
Alan,
I can’t say I’ve ever cleaned up a dirty old chanter but I’ve done a few manky old flutes and I’ve used metal polish cream (solvo autosol) on an old rag to cut back the gunk inside and out. The wood needs a bit of oil when you’ve finished but it works okay. Then a good buffing up with silk to finish things off. I would guess that a knitting needle would be an adequate tool to push the rag up a chanter without forcing the wood out of shape.
Ken
Thanks. I’m going for the brush, there’s some strange dirt to come off.
Soaked in Bleach!!!
Alan
D bit reamer works… :roll: Why do you want to clean the inside, Alan? Neighbors coming over to visit?
Heaps and heaps of oil can split wood, too. Some think that buildup of skudge over time makes a set of pipes sound a bit more interesting, that it adds character to the sound - Ennis, Reck, Wooff, O’Dowd. Lots of personality in these instruments.
[quote=“Kevin L. Rietmann”]D bit reamer works… :roll: quote]
Nah, that’s only good for weekly chores! !
Actually, I’m thinking coca-cola will do the trick, after it cleans up blood spills.
I’m selling my pipes Kevin! Got to make 'em look nice too!!
Alan
Al,
I use a 50/50 mixture of raw linseed and meths (shaken well) looks nasty but does the job. Applied using a highly technical bit of kit known as a bit of rag tied onto the middle of a length of twine.
Let me know if you have trouble finding a sutible brush.
Alan,
Acetone is my solvent of choice, followed by sweet almond oil oncce it is clean. Linseed is a hardening oil which can cause build up.
Ted
Marcus,
Waste good meths on pipes!! You should know better!
I think I will give the linseed a miss. And it really needs more than a rag.
Is that C stick ready yet? 
Ted,
Acetone = nail polish remover???
I may just give it an Almond oil coat and leave it soften. What comes out (the chanter was on loan to a friend) may just be good enough to smoke!!
Cheers
Alan
Make sure the material on the swab you use with the almond oil is absorbent (i.e. cotton). If you’re actually going to clean the bore (and unless it’s quite old and has been dropped in mud, I’d reccomend against it), be very careful not to rub the metal of your cleaning rod against the bore to avoid causing more damage.
Linseed oil smells nice and has been used for instruments for some time, but overused causes build-up pretty easily as it’s a thicker oil than sweet almond oil. I’d reccomend pure sweet almond oil.
Dionys
More damage??
This whole notion doesn’t sound any good to me. Taking the patina off the inside of the bore of a chanter that had not mistreated would seem risky.
OK, I won’t clean them then. There, happy? :roll: 
Alan
Ted,
Quite right, too much oil will cause build up; however the liseed/meths solution mearly cleans the bore. Was’nt advocating the use of a paintbrush!
If using linseed oil make certain you dispose of the rag carefully - has a bad habit of spontaneous combustion
Chris, that’s true for boiled linseed oil (sometimes called “processed”) but not true for raw linseed oil, which is also sold in health food stores as flaxseed oil.
djm
The warning regarding spontaneous combustion applies to all types of linseed oil - just checked on a bottle of raw linseed oil in the workshop.