Chiff and Fipple Forums

i was reading about flutes and such, and i came upon something about using Pheasant feathers to swab out the barrel, it keeps the right amount of moisture in the flute ,,anyone heard about this

Here in Colorado, I'd go for ptarmigan, but only in the white, Winter plumage.

For our urban friends, Squab is probably more common.

Someone once told me that since oboists use a peacock tail feather (I have no idea how true that is), I should too. Way too precious for me...

Oboes. I heard that myself. I hear it’s takes the right amount of moisture out

Erm. You never get ´the right amount of moisture ´ out of an oboe. You´re lucky to get the right amount of music out of one.
I knew an instrument tech who said he got a large amount of his income re-boring, revoicing, and fixing cracks due to too much moisture in oboes. What you need is a swab made from the mane of Unicorn. . .

Bob

well Erm,
unicorn mane is all but obsolete , from what the pros say one is not supposed to remove all the moisture on a swab just the beads

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought it may have been started 4 days late...

However a quick Google shows that double reeders do seem to have a fancy for feathers.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lakAU-DfgJk

cavefish wrote:... from what the pros say one is not supposed to remove all the moisture on a swab just the beads

I've never heard that, but there's this to consider: Even if you swab out your flute with rod and cloth, there will always be a scant amount of moisture left behind anyway.

Interesting video about the oboe feathers. Does a double reed instrument collect as much water in the barrel as a flute? My flute drips water if I play it often enough and don't blow it out.

Also I'm curious about this idea of keeping the "right amount of moisture" in a wooden flute. I thought the idea of swabbing was to remove as much of the moisture in the bore as you can, to prevent any remaining water from raising the grain? You'll leave a thin film behind, but not enough to raise the grain.

I use a bit of paper towel wrapped on a long bamboo chopstick as an ad-hoc "flute flag" which is nicely absorbent and probably also does a tiny bit of bore polishing. Sanitary too... I throw out the paper towel afterwards, so there is no moisture to collect and grow nasties in a cloth swab. Of course, with the current run on paper towels during the virus crisis, I'll probably have to switch to a cloth rag soon. Or find some unicorn mane somewhere.

Nanohedron wrote:

cavefish wrote:... from what the pros say one is not supposed to remove all the moisture on a swab just the beads

I've never heard that, but there's this to consider: Even if you swab out your flute with rod and cloth, there will always be a scant amount of moisture left behind anyway.

Unless you are in a very humid environment a little moisture will help keep the wood hydrated and leather pads soft if you have those. There is a delicate balance between too much or too little, both which can lead to cracking.

So if your bore is conditioned with the right amount of oil (completely absorbed) the water you are removing with a swab is sitting on the interior surface. Removing much of this will keep it from pooling somewhere and eventually molding or causing cracks due to minor imperfections of the oiled surface allowing moisture to infiltrate. But you won't get it all and that's ok.

So a feather may do to shake things up, or a bit of silk or cotton on a stick.

I have a flute I have played regularly for 20 years that I seldom swab, But due to the pressures of the moment I haven't played for a month. I know when I start playing it again I will need to be much more careful about swabbing. This is because the tiny bit of moisture that lives inside the flute when played daily is now gone.

A flute is a living thing, somehow.

Uni Flute wrote:When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought it may have been started 4 days late...

However a quick Google shows that double reeders do seem to have a fancy for feathers.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lakAU-DfgJk

wow ya know i would have thought to put the feathers in the other direction, , i do like that turkey one, honestly i love wood and i have been using wood and making stuff off and on for years, just taking care of the wood flute is fun, i see no extra work in maintenance its quite soothing , thanks for the vid

Nanohedron wrote:

cavefish wrote:... from what the pros say one is not supposed to remove all the moisture on a swab just the beads

I've never heard that, but there's this to consider: Even if you swab out your flute with rod and cloth, there will always be a scant amount of moisture left behind anyway.

oh yes, i make sure i have little or no resisitance on the pull or push, like anything relaxed is the way,,,

Conical bore wrote:Interesting video about the oboe feathers. Does a double reed instrument collect as much water in the barrel as a flute? My flute drips water if I play it often enough and don't blow it out.

Also I'm curious about this idea of keeping the "right amount of moisture" in a wooden flute. I thought the idea of swabbing was to remove as much of the moisture in the bore as you can, to prevent any remaining water from raising the grain? You'll leave a thin film behind, but not enough to raise the grain.

I use a bit of paper towel wrapped on a long bamboo chopstick as an ad-hoc "flute flag" which is nicely absorbent and probably also does a tiny bit of bore polishing. Sanitary too... I throw out the paper towel afterwards, so there is no moisture to collect and grow nasties in a cloth swab. Of course, with the current run on paper towels during the virus crisis, I'll probably have to switch to a cloth rag soon. Or find some unicorn mane somewhere.

i have been using cut up Tee shirts, but i also have some bamboo "paper" towels , i was considering (bored) its very strong stretchable material, like a regular paper towel but does not fall apart, almost like tee shirt--- i also have a swab (silk like) cloth that comes with eyeglasses or your phone glass screen protector, works nice attached to a little string
as far as "grain raising" i would think only new flutes have this potential in the beginning , being newly bored

I use the "Viva" brand paper towels for flute swabs, it's very cloth-like and doesn't fall apart to clog up the key pads. I don't know if that brand is available outside the USA. I'm hoarding the ones I have left, since they disappeared from the local grocery store in the first wave of panic buying.

I use a turkey feather for the upper joint. The bore is small. This was recommended by my teacher. Oboe suppliers sell them.