I’m trying to play in my flutes because I’d neglected them of late due to life and other musical activities, but I’ve been feeling the bug to play more–really missed it. (Been doing too much Boehm flute and ukulele, of all things…)
Anyway, my boxwood Murray has a loose ring. I’ve played it a few times in the last week, and played it five minutes this afternoon, and the ring at the end of the headjoint fell off when I was swabbing it out.
I’ve had it in a humidified tupperware box, and have decided to put an Oasis ukulele humidifier in the Murray case.
*Do I need to glue the ring on? If so, what type of glue? I know this is a sign it’s dangerously close to cracking. I did a search on this topic and found various advice. Thanks for any info, Jeanie
The Boxwood has probably shrunk, it may not go back to it’s original size. Yes, it is in a dangerous condition, but all you can do is humidify it.
You can use some thin tee shirt material under the rings. I like to melt shellac on the rings, then I heat them up and glue them on. You can also use Gorrila glue, but you only need a thin amount, as it expands, if it foams out, clean with alcohol before it drys.
The material is just a spacer,it can be left in when gluing. I just put the ring on over the tee shirt material then carefully cut off excess with rasor knife.
Bleah! When that happened to me Hammy Hamilton recommended using a thin strip of silk scarf to the same effect. I guess the silk might dry faster if it gets soaked? Anyway, it’s worked fine, as have the glueing methods Jon mentions. I’ve “graduated” (“devolved?”) to reattaching entire ferrules on a boxwood chanter and mainstock. Good luck Jeanie – and yeah, it’s the humidity. It was 30% in my house on Sunday.
Thanks, Cathy and Jon. Hope it works! This low humidity is driving me crazy! Even in my tupperware box with several humidity devices, it’s still registering around 40% in the box.
That seems a little strange; winter hasn’t been THAT dry here this year. The Tupperware box isn’t cracked or anything, is it? Or did you get new heating equipment?
FWIW, I’ve noticed fewer “wild mood swings” in my boxwood Olwell (it’s the most sensitive of the Boxwood Bonanza, though in subtle ways) since I put an unzipped Ziploc bag with soaked paper towels inside between the padding and the outer wall of its case.
I have to make sure to change the paper towels every now and then though so they don’t mildew – but it’s nice and flat and definitely damp!
Maybe the box is cracked…I’ve had it for some years. Might be best to buy a new one and see if that helps.
Having had the Oasis humidifier directly in the Murray case for about a week, the ring isn’t falling off today. It seems fairly secure now. I’m going to keep checking it. I got some glue today, just in case…
(Cathy, I’m trying to get some tunes back under my fingers and hope to return to the MM sessions some time in the near future. I’ve missed it!)
Hello,
It must be very tricky to get some cloth between the wood and the ferrule, Silk might be better simply because it’s thinner. If it’s that loose that there’s enough space for t-shirt material, it’s time to get the ring made smaller in my opinion.
When I add ferrules to my flutes, I make small teeth on the inside so it grabs the wood and use Epoxy.
Old style would be to use liquid shellac, both have the advantage that they can be broken by heat. Shellac can even be re-glued just by heating it up. If the wood is too small and it’s just a small gap, I use paper to fill the gap. Cigarette paper for the very small ones, that also has the advantage, that you can simply glue a strip on using the gummed part of cigarette papers and then add the shellac/epoxy and press the ring on, the ring should have a nice inlet, so it’s not simply pushing up the paper. If it pushes the paper up, stop before it comes “home” and cut the excess paper off with a razor blade, then push it home, the shamfer/inlet on the ring accommodates for small bit of paper or glue being pushed up.
Cleaning epoxy can be done with alcohol, or simply waiting until the glue is half set and you can peel the excess glue off in one nice piece.
Gorilla glue certainly works, but I don’t like it personally and cleaning up with alcohol doesn’t seem to work from my experience. I stick to Epoxy, which you can also tint if necessary…
Maurice, thanks for the expert tips and advice. For now, it seems to be holding, but I’m keeping a copy of your advice should I need it in the future. Many thanks, Jeanie
I use black shoemakers’ wax (adhesive) and hemp thread. Some pipe makers use this. The thread can be split down to very thin. The wax is applied to the thread and a single wrap on the wood under the ring is used. I like to heat the ring and press fit it on. The heat melts the wax and provides a removable fit. Heat to remove. Works great with more wraps for ferrules as on bagpipes. Rigid glues release when the wood shrinks. I have replaced glue under ferrules many times with this old method. The old glue must be removed first.
