Green Spots on Brass Whistle

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busterbill
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Re: Green Spots on Brass Whistle

Post by busterbill »

Matthewlawson3 wrote:
facet wrote:
Matthewlawson3 wrote:..I noticed after wiping the spot that there is a little dark spot where the green was. ...
The dark spot is pitting from the corrosion.


I have some Wright's brass polish, but have yet to use it on my whistles mostly because once you put it on and rinse some of it will get inside the whistle and I am unsure how to make sure it's all out of there before I play as I assume it can be hazardous to one's health. Just run a cloth through it?

I'm very cautious with the Sindt D.

I have ordered a brass polishing cloth. Can I try that before moving on to the liquid?

I'm still learning all of this.

You can certainly try the brass polishing cloth. The other things like salt and vinegar did not work for me for the verdigis, though they do ok on tarnish. The polish was on the advice of Jon Sindt so I think it is safe. We do want to deal with corrosion before it becomes pitting. The advice of a piece of t shirt on a string is perfect. You actually do not mind getting a bit of polish and rinsing water inside, as it is brass in there too! :D As long as you have the instrument apart a good housecleaning of any bore gunk can't hurt.

You want to take the head off anyway, so you will have a nice opening both ends.

Now if your head gets stuck on the tube I can explain the great advice I got from him some years ago, involving painters tape, a LARGE metal washer, a pipe nipple and gravity...
Matthewlawson3
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Re: Green Spots on Brass Whistle

Post by Matthewlawson3 »

So just wipe the whistle down with the polish, then rinse the whistle in and out, then dry it out inside with a cleaning rod and cloth and then wipe the outside with a cloth?
busterbill
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Re: Green Spots on Brass Whistle

Post by busterbill »

Yes indeedy. You may have to wipe two or three times using a bit of fresh polish each time. Mine was particularly exciting. It looked like green flowers had bloomed around each finger hole. It completely wiped away without leaving a trace and has never returned. I've used a t shirt scrap, a microfiber cloth, or an old terry wash cloth at different times, depending on what is at hand. Rinsing in warm water and drying it with a clean version of any of the above will work fine. If you want to run something through the tube to dry it out make a mini clarinet swab out of a strip of t shirt or whatever cloth you've got about and a piece of string. The tube is relatively short so you don't need to weight the string like they do with the clarinet swab, just drop it through. If you have a cleaning rod just draw a scrap of cloth through, and that will be fine as well.
Matthewlawson3
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Re: Green Spots on Brass Whistle

Post by Matthewlawson3 »

busterbill wrote:Yes indeedy. You may have to wipe two or three times using a bit of fresh polish each time. Mine was particularly exciting. It looked like green flowers had bloomed around each finger hole. It completely wiped away without leaving a trace and has never returned. I've used a t shirt scrap, a microfiber cloth, or an old terry wash cloth at different times, depending on what is at hand. Rinsing in warm water and drying it with a clean version of any of the above will work fine. If you want to run something through the tube to dry it out make a mini clarinet swab out of a strip of t shirt or whatever cloth you've got about and a piece of string. The tube is relatively short so you don't need to weight the string like they do with the clarinet swab, just drop it through. If you have a cleaning rod just draw a scrap of cloth through, and that will be fine as well.

Received my brass polishing cloth today and wiped down the parts of the whistle where the green was and I am happy with simply doing that for now. I like the brass patina, so I didn't polish the rest of the whistle.
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