Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Nanohedron »

Loren wrote:You ever see vinegar dispensers in a hospital? I mean, aside from the cafeteria salad bar.
Funny you should ask. When my dad underwent thoracic surgery he contracted a hospital bug and went into a coma. They had to leave him open (mom joked that she finally had proof that dad actually had a heart), and they put vinegar packs all around his organs. In light of our medical advances I wondered at such a pedestrian treatment, and the answer was that that's about the only thing these bugs can't resist. He eventually came out of it, infection-free. Took about three months, though.
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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Loren »

Ha! Great story! Old Skool medicine, sometimes was better. Sometimes not. We still seem unsure at times :-?

I have a longer response about why we’re not going to get to an answer on this subject, but I don’t have the energy to write it up at the moment, perhaps tomorrow.
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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by an seanduine »

Here is a good discussion of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) and acetic acid (vinegar) as disinfectants.
https://cleaningbusinesstoday.com/blog/ ... cting-duo/

As always, dilution increases the time to complete disinfection, but reduces the chances of bleaching or staining.

Clearly a thorough, gentle, cleaning, with something like tincture of green soap, or castile soap, would be your first 'go-to' procedure. Gently rubbing with a soft cloth dislodges most surface bacteria. Then a dilute disinfectant soak. Both dilute solutions of vinegar and peroxide will disinfect. See the cited article. Taking household vinegar or peroxide and diluting at 10 to 1 with distilled water will work. Successive short soaks with thorough drying between soaks should be effective and lessen the chances of bleaching, discoloring, or staining. From the article cited, you can effectively combine vinegar with peroxide to form Peracetic Acid.

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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Casey Burns »

I just remembered! Terry McGee has an instructional video on how to clean a flute when it becomes moldy or germy! Here he is demonstrating this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Qm-Z5OsHw

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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Hi4head »

One of the Native American style flute makers here in NC (Greybeard) also makes a “flute life oil”, which has antiseptic properties from the essential oils it contains (i.e. tea tree and others). They use it at festivals and circles after a flute has been played to disinfect the mouthpiece. These style flutes are also made from wood or bamboo. I use it on my NAF style flutes, rimblowns, and transverse flutes after others have played them (or attempted to in the case of the rimblowns).

I haven’t treated the entire flute with it, but it probably could be (I still use standard commercial bore oil on my blackwood flute for routine oiling, and the Greybeard oil on the mouthpiece if someone else plays my flute). The oils are a blend of essential oils with a grapeseed carrier. I know that one needs to be careful in choosing the type of oil being applied since some can go rancid. Since this is coming from and used by a flute maker, I’m assuming it’s safe for use.

I know of a different flute maker who was given a NAF style flute that had a jungle growing in the slow air chamber. He put a few drops of tea tree oil in the chamber, and it killed everything growing inside. I’m not sure what he then did to clean it out, but whatever was growing stopped. Please be aware that tea tree oil by itself can be dangerous and should not be consumed.

I share this simply to point out that there may be some natural oils that could be used rather than harsh chemicals to disinfect the embouchure area of a flute and/or the interior head section. This might not directly address the original poster’s point regarding concerns such as TB and extremely old flutes, but might help with normal disinfection.

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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Conical bore »

Hi4head wrote:I know of a different flute maker who was given a NAF style flute that had a jungle growing in the slow air chamber. He put a few drops of tea tree oil in the chamber, and it killed everything growing inside. I’m not sure what he then did to clean it out, but whatever was growing stopped. Please be aware that tea tree oil by itself can be dangerous and should not be consumed.
Tea tree oil may work, but personally I wouldn't want to use anything where I'd need to avoid mouth contact with any residue. Along those lines, I'll make one more recommendation here for Alpet D2 surface sanitizer (or something like it), because it kills everything you'd want killed in a typical situation like buying a used flute, while at the same time being "food safe" because it's designed for commercial kitchens and bars. Info from the Alpet product brochures:
  • Kills 99.999% of bacteria and viruses, including TB, HIV, MSRA, VRA and Norovirus
    Non-corrosive (i.e. safe around flute keys and rings)
    Meets current E.P.A. Regulatory Standards (40 CFR 180). Approved as a no-rinse sanitizer for food contact surfaces. EPA Registered - E.P.A. Reg #73232-1. Also meets previously accepted USDA standards for the D2 rating. U.S. NSF listed. Kosher, Pareve and Halal Certified. Received a Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) letter of non-objection for use in food processing facilities.
I like that it's Kosher certified too. :)
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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Fildafluter »

Conical bore wrote:
Hi4head wrote:I know of a different flute maker who was given a NAF style flute that had a jungle growing in the slow air chamber. He put a few drops of tea tree oil in the chamber, and it killed everything growing inside. I’m not sure what he then did to clean it out, but whatever was growing stopped. Please be aware that tea tree oil by itself can be dangerous and should not be consumed.
Tea tree oil may work, but personally I wouldn't want to use anything where I'd need to avoid mouth contact with any residue. Along those lines, I'll make one more recommendation here for Alpet D2 surface sanitizer (or something like it), because it kills everything you'd want killed in a typical situation like buying a used flute, while at the same time being "food safe" because it's designed for commercial kitchens and bars. Info from the Alpet product brochures:
  • Kills 99.999% of bacteria and viruses, including TB, HIV, MSRA, VRA and Norovirus
    Non-corrosive (i.e. safe around flute keys and rings)
    Meets current E.P.A. Regulatory Standards (40 CFR 180). Approved as a no-rinse sanitizer for food contact surfaces. EPA Registered - E.P.A. Reg #73232-1. Also meets previously accepted USDA standards for the D2 rating. U.S. NSF listed. Kosher, Pareve and Halal Certified. Received a Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) letter of non-objection for use in food processing facilities.
I like that it's Kosher certified too. :)
That is the thing I need to get hold of!
Thanks for the recommend.
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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Fildafluter »

Casey Burns wrote:I occasionally get instruments that have become ecosystems through improper storage - sealed containers usually in too humid an environment. Some have had mushrooms growing on them!



Wouldn't you agree with me Terry?

Casey
But is the mushroom edible, maybe a cheap trip?
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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Casey Burns »

Stay away from Tea Tree Oil especially if you are John Skelton and hate the stuff - especially when someone comes up to him and swabs him with it as a treatment for Cocus Wood allergies without asking.
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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Fildafluter »

Casey Burns wrote:Stay away from Tea Tree Oil especially if you are John Skelton and hate the stuff - especially when someone comes up to him and swabs him with it as a treatment for Cocus Wood allergies without asking.
Who is John Skelton? and why does he suffer from Cocus wood tea tree oil itch?

( I know this is OT, but having seen your Road Rage, and laughed my rear off at that, here is my offering of levity, and balal humor, for the demented global flooter community )

Mention of which isn't the yoke who runs our competitor ITM chatzine, that yallah skitter colored
website, a Cocus wood flute sucker? The same lad who peeved off thousands of Irish farmer flooters all over Leitrim, Sligo and Roscommon by banning them from his sewage works for offenses such as 'Off Topic' references to calves, castrating bowrhan player itch, and spelling errors such as calling the O'Flaherty clan by the name O'Flattery, - said site owner is a Cork man -. And by refusing to accept any discussion that is not sheer and utter certified post schlathering rear relief skitter of the most unsolid kind, similar to what cattle do but not green, more of rich yellow hue with a hint of Guinness; and then defending the enemy of all farmer flooters, Ireland's answer to technological innovation; the Gombeen political class led by none other than 'an windbag mor', Michael D. Higgins, who gave taking An Gaeilge a new title, 'ag caint i do thone amach..'
I'll get me hat...
:party:
Last edited by Fildafluter on Mon Oct 21, 2019 8:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by rickl@montana.edu »

Tea tree oil. In my experience, the trick is not to swab it on your flute. You put a drop or two on something like a Q-tip, put it in the barrel, leave it there for a day, and take it out, wait another day or so for odor to dissipate if you're sensitive to it. Need to use the high concentration version. Works great for mold, but I don't know about other nasties. I've used it on moldy smelling flutes. Worked so well that, when my bathroom sink leaked and serious mold problem happened in the cabinet, I did the same thing there, much larger space, and it completely killed the mold, never came back.
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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Fildafluter »

rickl@montana.edu wrote:Tea tree oil. In my experience, the trick is not to swab it on your flute. You put a drop or two on something like a Q-tip, put it in the barrel, leave it there for a day, and take it out, wait another day or so for odor to dissipate if you're sensitive to it. Need to use the high concentration version. Works great for mold, but I don't know about other nasties. I've used it on moldy smelling flutes. Worked so well that, when my bathroom sink leaked and serious mold problem happened in the cabinet, I did the same thing there, much larger space, and it completely killed the mold, never came back.
Now there's a thing I have dealt with! Moldy kitchen/bathroom sink waste pipes. I found, by accident, that boiling water does a great job of sanitizing, but you have to keep after it, for if left for a week or so it comes back - I guess up from the sewer pipes below.
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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Geoffrey Ellis »

Interesting!

I actually have a medical ozone generator at home that can be put to many uses, and sanitizing a flute is certainly one of them. One merely need put some tape over the holes and mouthpiece and stick the output tube in the foot of the flute. Let it run for an hour and it will probably decimate any fungus, mold, bacteria or virus that has taken up residence. Very powerful stuff.
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Re: Used woodwind / disease, how to sanitize them?

Post by Nanohedron »

Doesn't ozone bleach the wood, Geoffrey?
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