Hi All
What is a good humidity level to store wooden flutes at.
I live in the UK and keep my flutes in a large plastic box with a sealed lid in which I also keep a small violin humidifyer. Humidity is usually 45 - 50% never dropping below 35% Temperature is typically 19c. Is his ok or should I try to up the humidity level?
Ade
Do a search on this topic and you should find lots o’ stuff on it. I don’t think there is a definitive consensus, but most would say 50-70% is a safe range–not too wet to cause mold, not too dry to worry about cracking.
One that changes little, and slowly when it does.
Slowly? Fair enough but just to split horse hairs, a regularly played flute will be exposed to some drastic changes in moisture levels anyway.
I would think the ideal humidity level to store the flute is the one at which it was originally made or seasoned. Some ventilation would be nice for preventing mold.
Your breath. (Minus the spit.)
50% is optimal, when it gets up to 70% things start to grow in the bore… I don’t get worried until it drops to 30%, but I have my flutes trained to take the abuse! 
The moisture content of the air inside the flute will vary drastically, but what matters isn’t the humidity of the air, it’s the moisture content of the wood. Moisture travels into or out of wood at a fairly constant rate. (The rule of thumb for seasoning wood is an inch a year, but moisture is able to wick in via end grain a bit faster.) This automatically provides some averaging to variations that occur in half an hour or less, which is what happens when you’re playing it. If you play for three hours and then swab out your flute, you haven’t changed the moisture content of the wood much at all. None but the very surface layer, anyway.
If you try to keep a Casey Burns flute at it’s native San Juan Islands humidity while living in Arizona or Western Australia, you’re asking for trouble. I live in Casey’s climate, and right now it’s raining. If you stand still for more than three hours, you start growing moss.
Terry McGee’s webpage says that he uses an artificial climate chamber to acclimatises his flutes to the customer’s level of humidity before he ships them out, which strikes me as sensible. The absolute number matters less than the amount that it varies over a period of days or weeks. What you want to avoid is humidity changes that occur slowly enough to penetrate the wood, but too fast for the wood to then adjust to the ensuing changes in tension.
well, if you’re outside
I’m at 93 outside, but 62 inside.
Now if yer heating in a dry climate yer gonna have issues…
So its My Climate now?
Don’t blame me for the rain! I just live here.
I recommend 35-50%. If you live in a wet climate - don’t worry too much about it. If you live in a dry climate, keep a damp sponge near the flute - but allow air to circulate.
Casey
Casey, i am so glad to see you step and take responsibility for our climate out here! i was afraid i was going to have to do that.
be well,
jim
he’s still tryin’ to stick ya on an island too
“In the islands” and “on an island” aren’t synonyms. You can be ‘in the islands’ without being on an island in many parts of the world. The thousand islands in the St Lawrence is another one of those places - you can be on either bank of the river and still be in the thousand islands. I suppose technically, the SJIs don’t officially start until you emerge from Puget Sound and enter Georgia Strait, but that’s only a couple of miles
Besides, on any compas bearing the farthest you can travel on a straight line from Casey’s post office box before crossing water is about 12 miles.
An old wooden rainbarrel full of natural rainwater is where I store my flutes 
Cool! I’m under 5 miles!
post office is a bit farther
I don’t worry if they’re fitting together snug; if the tenons start to loosen a little I worry. Was surprised how low the humidity was after getting my hygrometer - a very cheap and useful piece of kit.
I thought I lived on a peninsula, not an island.
Casey
does yer post office have a moat?
That’s what I think, too. I’ve even been there.
this might be the first time Casey has noticed us doing this 
… you do… during the dry season.
be well,
jim