I have a wooden whistle and, as I commonly do, I disassemble the whistle for storage. Today, I tried assembling the whistle but I am not getting the male part to fit into the female part. The fit is so tight that I can’t get it all the way in. I don’t want to try forcing it for fear of cracking the wood (I know what you guys are thinking, but I am being serious). I am not sure if the metal male part is somehow expanded or if the wood on the female part has swelled. I felt the whistle tightening in the past and had trouble awhile back trying to get the whistle apart. I finally managed the feat and learned my lesson and started always storing the whistles disassembled. Now, before contacting the whistle maker, you folks have any suggestions that I should try out?
Joint grease or Chapstick.
Try cleaning the brass with some fine steel wool. The best plan is probably to contact the maker.
Just tried some lip balm but it doesn’t really seem to help. If I try forcing it in too deep, there’s no doubt in my mind that it will get stuck. Another issue with grease, etc. is that the male part is pretty long, noticeably longer than the female part is deep. What this means is that anything that I put on the male part will invariably end up on the inside of the wooden bore. Seeing where it starts to stick, I now think it’s the wood that has swelled. Does this mean I should temporarily stop oiling the whistle to allow the wood a chance to dry out and “unswell”?
What whistle is it? What wood is it made of? What oil do you use? How long have you had it? Thanks, Cyril.
Contact the maker right away. They will be able to tell you what they suggest, and you won’t risk doing something they would tell you not to.