…if I didn’t take my flute apart after I played it?
How long could you leave your flute assembled before some terrible fate befell it? What would happen? Is it really even necessary to take the foot joint off?
Just curious.
Assuming your flute is wood, moisture would collect between the tenon and socket. This could cause swelling that would make your flute difficult or impossible to separate; it could also cause cracks in the wood.
Dampness in the bore cause swelling or warping, or raise the grain of the bore, altering the bore profile and the flute’s response.
Dampness in the headjoint can cause the tuning cork to swell, making it difficult or impossible to remove. It can also cause cracks in the wood.
Assuming a polymer flute, the story is a bit different.
A polymer flute won’t be damaged by leaving it assembled (unless you have cork on the tenons–over time, the cork could compress and the joint become loose). However, a polymer flute can certainly become “stagnant” after a time if you leave it full of moisture every time you play. To speak bluntly, it may start to smell bad.
On either material flute, the pads on a keyed flute may swell and no longer seal well if they are left wet. Leather pads left wet will also harden over time, making it more difficult for them to seal well.
All in all, it takes little effort to wipe out the bore, and it does afford a measure of protection for the instrument.
As for when to wipe it out, definitely at the end of the day’s playing before you put it away for the night, and also anytime the condensation in the bore starts noticeably affecting the tone or response of the flute (which it will).
–James
The questions what might and what will happen are different.
Certainly it is received wisdom to dissassemble flutes.
FWIW I occasionally leave flutes assembled for extended
periods (e.g. several days); there has never been any difficulty. The flute
dries well enough this way, especially if it’s standing veritically,
in a reasonably short time.
Not recommending anything, and I’ve done this a good
deal for a long while (both keyed and unkeyed)
without any difficulty.
I will also confess that I’ve reached the conclusion
the flute is more likely to be damaged by my swabbing
it (I’m paranoid about scratching the bore) then
letting it stand and dry.
I’ve never had any problem with compressed cork.
This is an empirical report from one individual,
not safe to generalize.
^Now wait… I found an ancient clarinet that lived in a barn for several decades - and the cork had become compressed! 
I think the brand name was ‘Pharaoh’. Heh-heh…
But I have not had that problem with any instruments I have actually owned and played in the last 45 years. I guess it could happen under extreme circumstances; but reliability and low maintenance is why I like cork (assuming it was corked properly in the first place).
Oh - and I disassemble my corked Delrin flute a couple of times a month with no issues. It sits by my side at my computer all day for quick joy sessions.
Who knows its a dangerous world
have you ever tried one of those piccolo swabs, or a wooden cleaning rod? i use the latter, as well as a shishkabob skewer to get the cloth through the foot joint.
I have a flute flag and also a wooden cleaning rod.
Also various slender sticks for pushing cloth through
the flute’s bore. But the point of this is to dry the
bore and I find the bore dries pretty quickly
if I just leave it alone. Sometimes if the flute
is very wet (I’ve been performing) I take off
the headjoint and shake it, then shake out
the rest of the flute.
This seems to be working well and I don’t like putting
hard objects inside it. So I don’t.
also I haven’t used oil on a flutes innards for years.
jim, its pretty obvious to me
that your flute has never squeaked …
Sloth and Torpor or Wu wei? You decide.
An interesting anecdote:
Week before last, I was at the Augusta Irish Week and in five days of classes with Marcus Hernon, I never saw him swab out his flute. As I recall, he didn’t have a swab or stick in his flute box, either.
Now, I’m not saying he doesn’t swab his flutes, just that he didn’t in my presence, nor did I see him shake the thing out when he put it away.
FWIW, I still swab out my flute after I play, and probably will continue to do so.
hard to say, I shake or swab mine out most times - I think the point is to remove any very wet localised patches and drops of water, whereas general low level moisture will probably air dry easily enough. I find my Cotter keyless gets worryingly tight on the cork joint (even after cooling off) so that should be moisture swelling I guess. However, I have a 100 year old 8 key that the previous owner kept always assembled for years (in a snooker cue case!) and that has absolutely no problems at all. I do oil them and I think that helps.
The Wu Wei of Wooden Flute Maintenance
published by Sloth and Torpor