Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have a favorite old Oak whose under-beak cavity I long, long ago filled in with poster putty. That was so very long ago that that putty has deteriorated and now emits an unpleasant rotting rubber odor. Plus I've developed a mild latex allergy, so I should probably get that stuff out of all my old whistles.

First: any suggestions of a tool to scrape it out with? I've been using the pointy end of a chopstick, which is proving suboptimal.

Second: I'm also super allergic to Goo Gone*.
Fortunately, peanut butter often works just as well, you just need to leave it on longer, scrub a bit, and wash well after.
Unfortunately, this is not a convenient cavity to scrub with any accuracy or visibility.

Current status: still/again marinating the interior w/ PB

Further suggestions welcome!
(not putting that stuff in there to begin with is one I've already figured out)

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* Don't scoff at allergies just because you don't have any. I had none to speak of until midlife when my autoimmune conditon kicked into gear, after which my body abruptly became very skilled at going into anaphylaxis at the slighted provocation. This is is very exciting but not in a good way.

My last ambulance ride to the ER was courtesy of an unfamiliar flu shot preservative, which provided an opportunity to catch COVID a *second* time. The ER was too slammed to even give me a cubicle, so I was there for hours breathing thru a homemade fabric mask that could protect others from my viruses but not me from theirs, as demonstrated by my subsequent illness.

Potentially useful data point: my natural immunity only appeared to last about 9 months, despite my having a hyperactive immune system that rarely succumbs to my roomies' colds or flu.

I wonder if vinegar essence might work. I use it for a lot of stuff. Mostly removing chalk deposits in the water cooker. There's a lot of calcium carbonate in the tap water in some parts of Germany.

You might try a wax sculpting tool (here is a link to a set on eBay):
Wax sculpting tool set on ebay

Instead of having to buy the whole set you may be able to find individual tools for sale at your local hobby store for a $1 or $2. That would be at Michaels or Hobby Lobby here in my area.

Have you considered using olive oil instead of PB? I haven't tried it on putty, but have used it on a couple of gooey glues with success. For excavation, the pointy end of a long bamboo BBQ skewer might work at least somewhat better than the chopstick.

IIRC, I used a metal double-pointed knitting needle to pry old blu-tack out of a whistle. Or maybe one of those metal scoop-like ear cleaners?

If peanut butter works to remove gunk, then any kind of oil should.

I’ve found that a pair of tweezers works well. Any residual that you can’t get out can be removed with a wooden toothpick.

Thanks everyone! It's nice. to know I'm not the only one who's faced this situation!

I'd stick to wood or plastic tools if I were digging around in a plastic mouthpiece. I've sometimes made some interesting tools for shaping and scraping stuff out of old credit card plastic. And bamboo skewers can be sanded to give you a flatter surface if the point is not doing the trick. I wonder if gentle heat, like hot water would be helpful, or direct sunlight. You want to be careful with heat though. Even if it were not hot enough to melt the plastic, it could make it more brittle.

I once placed a small amount of poster putty on a flat end of a pencil and pushed inside the whistle. The new poster putty stuck to the old, dried out poster putty and the whole thing came right out.