Frozen slide

[jim stone]

I just acquired a lovely blackwood and silver keyless. However the tuning slide is frozen. I can't turn it with all my force. Happily it is frozen in tune. Suggestions/info appreciated.

[Terry McGee]

I've used the "hot poker" approach with success in most cases. Heat a fireside poker or some similar metal rod to a good heat (hot but not glowing!) and run it around inside the slide in the area where the slides overlap. The heat softens the breath condensate which is probably what is freezing the slide in place. Every minute or so, withdraw the poker and twist the head and barrel both ways. Repeat until you have enough movement to work the slides apart. If you're not getting anywhere, heat the poker hotter.

Be careful not to exert so much twisting force that the head slide comes loose and partially occludes the embouchure hole! You don't want any of the slide messing up the jet stream.

Once you have the slides apart, use a rag soaked in alcohol to clean the mating surfaces. If really pitted you might need something more aggressive, like fine steel wool, a Scotchbrite or something similar. Lightly grease or oil the slide surfaces before reuniting.

I once encountered a 19th century Clinton flute where this approach did absolutely nothing but bring a whiff of burning paint. I realised that some previous owner had "oiled" the slide with Linseed oil and no amount of hot poker was going to get me anywhere. Fortunately, the barrel was badly cracked. (Hmmm, that's not a sentence I'd use often!) That let me get the rings off it, and open the crack enough to slip the wood cover of the barrel off the slide, leaving the barrel slide fully exposed on the end of the head slide. I had to hit that with the gas torch until it burnt off enough of the Linseed oil to loosen the slide. That was an extreme case!

[Steampacket]

I had success using WD-40:

"Try penetrating oil such as WD-40. Give it 30 minutes to spread. It smells but that disappears. I tried it on a Wilkes flute when the slide sized up and on a R&R patent head mechanism that wouldn’t turn.

I doubt the slide tubes would have rusted as they are usually made of nickel-silver, silver, or brass. After 30 minutes or so try twisting and gently pulling. If nothing moves spray more WD-40 and repeat the above procedure. Try also spraying WD-40 up into the inside of the head joint via the barrel."
.

Terry Mcgee has this advice regarding old flutes with stuck slides:
http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/immovable_slide.htm

From the session.org:

https://thesession.org/discussions/41516#comment833729

Re: Flute with stuck tuning slide
"Solved!

Thanks so much for all the help, this is my first time using the TheSession forum and I truly wasn’t expecting so so many good people trying to help!
Now, here’s what I did, in this order (although I’m not sure which of these worked and which didn’t):

- Soaked some piece of fabric in boiling water and inserted it a few times in the head joint, to losen whatever glue was sticking the tuning slide.
- After it dried completely during the night I sprayed some penetrating oil on the slide joint (between the rings stuck together) and on the inside of the flute, being extra careful not to get the oil to touch the wood (at least on the outside).
- Waited about a week, trying to twist and pull it every day just because I didn’t want to give up. On the second day I sprayed some more of the penetrating oil.
- This weekend I travelled to a very cold place (ok, it was like 9ºC which is pretty cold for us Brazilians hahaha). After a coulpe of nights there I tried another "twist and pull" and it totally worked! My flute now has a fully funcioning tuning slide.

Now, I cleaned the slide as best as I could, but I’d love some tips on how to care for it on the long term so it doesn’t get stuck again.

Again, thanks so much for the support!"

[jim stone]

Thanks for all the help. A house mate of mine and I managed to separate the tuning slide. I've spent quite a bit of time cleaning it and putting on oil and cork grease and trying it this way. The tuning slide still freezes when it gets to the place where in tune. The party who sold me the flute is entirely innocent, having no idea the problem existed. As mentioned, it freezes in tune. I'm sending the flute back. Thanks again

[Terry McGee]

If the slide metal is solid (ie not electroplated) solving the jamming problem shouldn't prove too hard. It will probably only be a matter of identifying and relieving some high spots. But I won't go on about that yet as you might have decided to send it back on other grounds.

[jim stone]

No other grounds, Terry. It's a very beautiful flute made by Michael Copeland long ago. Also the Seller lives close to two major Flute workers. I don't expect it's going to be hard for people who know what they're doing to fix this. Thanks everybody