Resale Hygiene!
Resale Hygiene!
My goodness. I got a METAL AND PLASTIC 20-or-so-year-old whistle on eBay. I kid you not - when it arrrived, it had 20 years of crud, muck, DNA and grime filling its interior. Some of the finger holes were playing with different diameters than intended, as they were filled with crud. The windway was visibly clotted and the entire tube looked full of yuck. I had to soak it and SERIOUSLY clean it before putting it in my mouth. I cannot believe that someone would sell a whistle in that condition. It takes all kinds, I suppose.
Last edited by JessieK on Tue Aug 29, 2006 5:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
~JessieD
- straycat82
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Wow. I couldn't handle that either. I'm not a germophobe or anything but that sounds pretty nasty. I've bought a few second hand whistles in my time and I always sterilize the heck out of them regardless of their appearance. Luckily I haven't had a whistle come to me yet that had things growing on it
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Re: Resale Hygeine!
JessieK wrote: I had to soak it and SERIOUSLY clean it before putting it in my mouth.
No, no, don't break the chain!!! You've sanitized the tradition!!
Charlie Gravel
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
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“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde
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Ish! That's really sort of disgusting. Maybe if a person had never played the whistle she might not realize where all that stuff comes from, but I would be seriously grossed out. Sadly, I have no trouble imagining that someone would sell a whistle in that condition.
I read a quotation once that I think was attributed to Winston Churchill but I've not been able to confirm that he said it. Anyway, it goes:
"It doesn't take all kinds, there are all kinds."
I thought that was a pretty good summation of the general predicament.
I read a quotation once that I think was attributed to Winston Churchill but I've not been able to confirm that he said it. Anyway, it goes:
"It doesn't take all kinds, there are all kinds."
I thought that was a pretty good summation of the general predicament.
Diligentia maximum etiam mediocris ingeni subsidium. ~ Diligence is a very great help even to a mediocre intelligence.----Seneca
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You may have killed the germs but also may have killed the value of a potentially historic piece (I watch Antiques Roadshow)...that whistle may have had old sod from the Ould Sod in there or even original snuff (that could explain the DNA).
Actually, eBAY has guidelines for laundering garments, etc but apparently none for tin whistles.
Actually, eBAY has guidelines for laundering garments, etc but apparently none for tin whistles.
I soaked it in hot water with liquid soap. I cleaned it with paper towels and swabs. I soaked it over and over, and I cleaned it over and over. The "nickel silver," which is actually a white brass, did get some surface tarnish from the soaking. I was able to wipe that off easily with an impregnated polishing cloth.
But eeeeew!
But eeeeew!
~JessieD
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Resale Hygiene
Jessie- Just think of it as preparation for what you'll find in your kids' rooms in a few years!
Ammonia cleaners and plain old bleach (Clorox here in the States) are both excellent germ, mold and fungus killers. I doubt either of them would hurt the metal or the plastic on whistle but you can dilute them and still have a very effective disenfectant. Rinse off the whistle before you play it though you needn't get anal about it. When I was overseas in the 70's, we regularly added a tablespoon of Clorox to a gallon of drinking water to kill the bugs. The worse that happened to me was I grew up to play the whistle.
The Walrus
What would a wild walrus whistle if a walrus could whistle wild?
The second mouse may get the cheese but the presentation leaves a lot to be desired.
What would a wild walrus whistle if a walrus could whistle wild?
The second mouse may get the cheese but the presentation leaves a lot to be desired.
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Anti-bacterial dishsoap and water, used on the mouthpiece and windway should be fine. The same solution on a damp rag should be no problem for the vast majority of wooden whistle bodies.bwrynn wrote:Sanitizing Wooden whistles from eBay -- any thoughts on this? I wouldn't want to boil my second hand Abell or soak a Fred Rose in Clorox. Any good ideas?
Loren