Thread wax

[Grixxly]

All,

I've noticed that the wax on my flute has worn down, I guess that's how to describe it, and the joint is noticably loose. Mr. Burns recommends red ski wax, but being here in Memphis there's only one 'ski' shop and they didn't have any. Is there something I can use instead?

Thanks,
Tony

[mat]

If the joint is loose it will probably want a little more thread as well. If you can find beeswax try pulling the thread through it before winding it on, this has the effect of coating the thread.

Someone on the board mentioned using waxed dental floss on pipe joints. I tried it a few days ago on a flute as a quick fix and it seems to work well.

Mat

[Gordon]

If the joint is loose it will probably want a little more thread as well. If you can find beeswax try pulling the thread through it before winding it on, this has the effect of coating the thread.

Someone on the board mentioned using waxed dental floss on pipe joints. I tried it a few days ago on a flute as a quick fix and it seems to work well.

Mat

Careful here -- depends what is meant by "loose"! Loose wobbly, or loose, joints falling apart? Add unneeded thread and -- if the wood swells while playing or if there's just an increase humidity -- you've got a real problem.
Try a thick wax first -- I mix beeswax with almond oil, to the right thickness -- pasty but pliable. That may be all you need, if the thread used to fit right and now doesn't. As was said, the wax has worn off, so first, just thicken the wax.
If that doesn't correct the problem (still way too loose) then maybe try more thread.
Dental floss does work if you lose all your thread and need a replacement, but it tends to be very thick relative to a thinner sewing thread and can be first too loose and then, in one twist around, it's way too much. So, in this case, if extra thread is warranted, I would want to err on the side of fine-tuning, ie, thinner thread.
Gordon

[brianormond]

-Some snugging up can be done without adding more thread- by finding the loose end, unwrapping a few winds then re-wrapping. The new layup will be snugger and more resilient than the pressed thread you started with. -Another trick is to run a fingernail edge along the packed tenon thread and serrate the wax lightly. Roughing it up this way in fore-and-aft stripes around the tenon will snug things up until the tenon can be rewrapped or rewaxed.

-I wouldn't delay putting on wax however-the wax lubricates the socket during flute assembly/disassembly- preventing wood wear I should think. I don't like to think of dry thread abrading the socket during countless assembly cycles, and also fear increased water absorbency of the thread should it go waxless. FWIW,
I use blue cross-country ski wax on my Burns flute tenons as its less goopy at room temperature than the red.

[rama]

chapstick

[ChristianRo]

Question: I have added tiny strips of teflon tape when the joints became wobbly. Is that recommended?

[Tony]

I've heard (from a pipemaker) that long term use of teflon tape can be abrasive to the wood.

[BillG]

Gordon said "I mix beeswax with almond oil, to the right thickness -- pasty but pliable."

Gordon - where do you get your beeswax and what brand or type? I ordered some from the web last year, a pound and supposed to be "pure". It is light tan in color but with a powerful, unpleasant smell. I used it to seal some plates on my chromatic harmonicas and the smell was hard to deal with for weeks. It finally wore off.

Thanx - and my nose will thank you also,

BillG [/quote]

[Gordon]

I originally bought my beeswax (I refrained, you'll note, from telling you to mind yours :roll: ) from a fancy candle shop, which also sold molds, etc., along with it's The beeswax came in nice sheets, honeycomb-style, and in many colors. I chose a neutral brown (close to the natural color, which is what you described). If you have any such candle shops or craft shops, that's where they'd sell it.
What you've got seems to be a melted block, obviously not honeycombed; I saw a similar colored block at an art/craft store here in NY (Lee's, if you know it), pretty pricey, but it would last me a few lifetimes, and that's where I'll have to go next time, as my candle-shop is no more. Can't vouch for the smell; the sheets I bought had a smell, but not a bad one, and certainly not a petrol/parafin smell. Besides, the almond-oil smell will pretty much replace it; it's about a 3/1 mix, maybe even 4/1.
Gordon

[Gordon]

Oh, and you can always buy a beeswax candle if you can't find the sheets and just melt it down. Smell it first; I don't recall any great smell from these candles or the wax. I suspect you had some impurity in there that was going foul, though I can't imagine what that might have been...
and I'll try not to..
Gordon

[mjmtex]

..

[fionnbarra]

i was wondering what the exterior finish on modern flutes consist of? say if a piece required slight sanding and had to be sealed or refinished...

[pandscarr]

Matt wrote:

...a 3:1 ratio of melted beeswax and almond oil...

I've used a block of beeswax made by the local bee man mixed with almond oil which turned out fine, slighly granular as time goes on, but I seem to remember using alot more almond oil than that ratio, and it's still very thick. I tried melting it all together in the microwave but that took ages.

How do you measure it - and how do you melt it all together?

thanks,

pamela

[mjmtex]

Matt wrote:

...a 3:1 ratio of melted beeswax and almond oil...

.....
How do you measure it - and how do you melt it all together?

thanks,

pamela

I used a shot glass with measurement lines on the side placed on a stove burner on low heat, melting the beeswax first and then pouring in the almond oil until the ratio is ~3:1. I stir it up well and then use a small artist's paint brush to apply it tenon threads. It takes all of about 10 minutes to do.

[Gordon]

Ah, much too scientific, Matt! I play around with it, letting it cool, test it, add more oil. I second that -- even though I gave a 3:1, 4:1 approximate, it takes far more oil than wax than you would imagine at first.
There's two mixes you might be going for as well. The first is a chapstick-like consistency (or, as rama says, use chapstick!) as a lubricant-like mixture. Much smoother (more oil, obviously), and helps a tenon slide easily. This is good over the wax/thread wrappings (or cork) that's already there.
The second is a much thicker pasty concoction that would help on the original question, sealing a loose-ish tenon, without danger of adding thread and then getting stuck, or worse, cracking the socket or tenon. In essence, it's used to fatten the tenon by re-waxing the threads themselves, not lubricate them. I'd put this mix at more the 3:1 ratio -- in a sense, it's a pliable wax, as opposed to a cork-grease.
BTW, re the teflon tape; the danger as I've read it is that the teflon makes the tenon seem to fit more easily, even when the fit is, in fact, too tight. Also, the tape, wrapped tightly, does not allow the tenon to expand as easily or naturally as thread/wax does, as it remains unaffected by moisture changes itself, and again, the tenon could crack. But those that have worked with teflon tape regularly seem to have a handle on it's use and still recommend it, at least as a temporary fix.
Gordon