AngelicBeaver wrote:
Does anyone have experience with copper whistles? For the longest time, I've thought a copper whistle in the style of a Chieftain V3 would be pretty sweet looking, although a copper low D would be pretty heavy.
How would copper work as something you put your mouth on or handle frequently? Would it require a coating of some sort? Ideally, a bright copper finish or a green patina would be used, or perhaps a combination of both.
Besides the weight, I'd be concerned about corrosion on the inside or what might happen with frequent skin contact, like blackened lips or fingers.
Copper would be no worse than brass as far as weight or sticking things in your mouth. If you're a very careful player, a relatively thin walled copper tube should do well enough as a whistle body. Brass is simply an alloy of zinc and copper --- so, yeah. Copper is a very soft metal, however, so a pure copper body would have to be handled very delicately.
Maybe consider bronze? It's an alloy of tin and copper and looks coppery enough to pass.
Another solution would be to build the whistle out of brass and have it copper plated. That way you'd have the durability and the cool finish. I guess you'd have to lacquer the copper, though, because after you polish the whistle enough times, the plating will wear through!
Artificial patinas can be applied, but I think they're ugly. Let the whistle grow its own patina over the years. Either that or lacquer it to keep it bright.
Corrosion is an issue on the inside of the tube, but proper care (maybe cleaning it out once a decade or so) will pretty much keep that in order. If left be, the inside will eventually form a patina and that will be that.