Hi all. I have a question. What do you use to lubricate your tuning slides? Can you use cork grease? And, what is the difference between chap stick and cork grease? Thanks.
Keep the tuning slide clean, but don’t lubricate it or it gets kinda gucky. If it is loose or otherwise does not seal, have it looked at.
Chapstick is kind of waxy, but I’d use it in a pinch. However, why not simply get proper cork grease and have done?
Some makers design their flutes for a lubed slide (looser fit), some a dry slide (tighter fit). Check to see what your maker suggests for his design. Then, you have choices for what to use if he does in general recommend a lubricant for the slide.
I did a search on the flute forum using slide+grease as search words and there were many threads that talk about what to use on what kinds of flutes-so you can decide for yourself. One good thread was this one from way back in 2002:
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/lube-for-the-tuning-slide/4669/1
If your slide is tight, sticky or loose, there are different methods to cure each also. Search and ye shall find.
Barry
I have an M and E flute and the slide came with a good amount of grease on it, so I am sure that it is meant to have lubrication. I found another thread to Terry McGee’s flute care page, where he recomends using cork grease for the slide. I saw in the thread you posted, that Micheal Cronnelly recomends toilet ring wax. Anyway…Thanks
-Daniel
I have an 8 key M&E and Micheal emailed me and recommended grease for the corks and slide, I presume he meant cork grease for both.
My first flute was an M&E and there used to be a web page at their site with the tuning slide grease. Now it says "Occasionally, you should grease the tuning slide of your flute. A common petroleum jelly like Vaseline will work just fine. You can put on as much as you want, but too much gets a bit messy. You should check the bore of the flute after greasing to make sure globs of grease don’t collect inside the flute at the joints. "
But I printed the sheet in 1998 (!) and it said then-
Ingredients
1 ring of toilet bowl setting wax
1/4 cup sunflower oil
The gist of it was to melt the wax in a double-boiler type setup on the stove, pour the oil in the melted wax, stir and heat in the double boiler till it is all liquid and stirred up. Then let it all cool and this will give you a 100 years supply of grease.
It also mentions cleaning up can plug your drains as well as stick to whatever you cooked it in. 
Anyway hope that helps. I never made my own, just used the stuff Mr. Cronnolly sent with the flute.
Lesl
If I can humbly suggest my ingredients.
Beeswax and jojoba oil.
Its a little more palatable that “toilet wax” 
Besides you don’t know what is in that loo wax and jojoba has a lesser chance of going rancid.
Lesl’s methods and amounts should work just as well.
I had a recent interesting conversation with some very nice folks where their cork grease was made from beeswax and bear fat.
From real bears!
I was told I could get a sample and I will take them up on it.
I dunno… I’m sure it would work rather well. Bear fat was a big deal with Native Americans.
I just don’t want to have to “wrassel” a bear down and then render it.
We’ve got bears out here but they tend to shy away most likely from fear of being rendered into cork grease.
Are there any bears left in England?
Probably where they went.
I use lanolin on my M&E flutes (and trumpet slides)… Works great and is only a few buck for a lifetime supply.
Pat
As an acknowledged ChapStick® addict I can tell you this. In a pinch you could probably get by using ChapStick® to grease the corks on your flute. But if you forget to bring your ChapStick® to the session, putting cork grease on your lips just doesn’t work. I learned that one the hard way.
Thanks everybody for writing back.
This is why I prefer baby oil.
yer such a brute 
Indeed.
I mean how much oil could you get from a baby anyway?
Hardly seems worth the all effort.