Cleaning and Polishing

[undone]

Hello, everyone!

Allow me to introduce myself - I am brand new to forum and am delighted to start participating in this community! I've been a traditional flute player through the years, but fell in love with the sound of the irish whistle about five years ago and purchased my first tin whistle on eBay - a black Clarke C with the gold diamonds on it. I quickly progressed to higher quality whistles, then picked up a used Copeland D on eBay. Oh, my gosh! All the others were junk in comparison and quickly found their way into my trash can! I currently own a Copeland brass hi D, Copeland nickel hi C, Copeland brass A, and a newly purchased Burke brass hi E.

Well, anyway... I did a search to see if anyone has posted information about cleaning and polishing whistles, but didn't find anything. Not sure if this is the way to clean them, but when they've seen a lot of use, I will typically give them a bath in soapy water, poking a soft scouring pad through the inside of the shaft. I use a pipe cleaner in the mouth piece to wipe it out, then allow them to dry. Once dry, I buff them up with a soft cloth. Does this sound like a good way to clean a whistle? Any suggestions?

Re: polish - I'd like to use a polishing cream on the brass whistles to remove the tarnish. What is the polish of choice for a brass whistle?

Thanks much, everyone, for your assistance and suggestions.

[m31]

I polished my Copelands a couple of times and eventually realized this was mostly unnecessary. The tarnish actually increases friction and makes it slightly easier to grip the bigger whistles and helps hold the tuning slide position. Now this is not to say that it's okay to let the whistle, particularly if it's brass, go green and encrusted. Nor should the tuning slide be allowed to seize. Clean it if it really needs cleaning. Warm water is good enough for general maintenance.

http://www.copelandwoodwinds.com/instruments.asp#polish

[undone]

Thanks for the advice, m31, and for the Copeland link, too.

I prefer to get the tarnish off the brass whistles so might pick up one of those jeweler's clothes.

Any other cleaning / polishing tips that have worked for you that is not mentioned on the Copeland site?

[Tommy]

Thanks for the advice, m31, and for the Copeland link, too.

I prefer to get the tarnish off the brass whistles so might pick up one of those jeweler's clothes.

Any other cleaning / polishing tips that have worked for you that is not mentioned on the Copeland site?

Toothpaste

[undone]

Toothpaste? Using a toothbrush?

[Tommy]

Toothpaste? Using a toothbrush?

A wash cloth is better.

[King Friday]

A toothbrush is actually good for the hard to reach spots

[Aanvil]

A toothbrush is actually good for the hard to reach spots

I use a washcloth there too.

[King Friday]

I find the toothbrush helpful for cleaning inside the window. And plus I can't get over the novelty of using a toothbrush and and toothpaste on a whistle.

[Tom Dowling]

I have a decent collection--though not of the depth and range of certain C & F stalwarts known to us all--many of which are brass and some of which I have had for about 7 years. I have consistently resisted the temptation to polish any of them. I remember a post here--early on in the game for me--in which the poster asked about the best way to get a nice patina on his whistles so that they would look old and well played. I suggested that a surefire way to get that patina is to take them out and play them a little every day or every few days for a year or so. Following this method, I could guarantee that his whistles would acquire that patina. That was a wiseguy answer, I know. But, time is what it takes for both the music and the whistle to get a recognizable patina--a finish worthy of the name, so to speak.

So, with respect to whistle polishing--I don't do it. As the saying goes:"De Gustibus non disputandum est." Heck, I'm getting older and more gnarly looking every day. Why should my whistles not suffer the same fate? Heavern forbid, the music should get better!!

Tom D.

[Aanvil]

I don't bother polishing them.

Without the shiney parts I won't know were my fingers go.

Do wash them though otherwise they'll end up smelling like a fine Spanish blue cheese.

[Loren]

Skip the pastes, creams and the like, and use the jeweler's cloth - it's far less of a pain, will do the job well, doesn't dry up or go bad over time, smell like cr@p. Yeah, the polishing cloth won't leave your whistle smelling minty fresh, but I'm guessing your whistle isn't worried about caveties either, and the polishing cloth will be easier to travel with these days


Seriously, the pastes and creams are just a pain, more time consuming to use, and are really unneccessary, unless you've got some really major tarnish going on.


BTW, when you get a jeweler's polishing cloth, there are usually two basic types: A rouge cloth, and a non-rouge cloth - which uses a cleaning chemical, rather than a polishing compound. The non-rouge cloths seem to work fine on light to moderately tarnished nickel and silver, but don't do so well on anything other than lightly tarnished brass. My suggestion is to go for a rouge cloth for non-lacquered brass whistles (Gens and some others have a coating that may be stripped off if you use a polishing cloth), and use a non-rouge cloth for silver and nickel. Because the non-rouge cloths are a bit cleaner to use, and personally, I prefer not to clean silver or nickel with a cloth that's loaded up with brass.


These two types of cloths will normally be different colors, regardless of brand, so you can get one of each, and it will be easy enough to identify them.


Loren

[shadeclan]

. . . (Gens and some others have a coating that may be stripped off if you use a polishing cloth)

Of course, that may be desirable . .

[Loren]

Indeed, particularly if you like stinky smelling brass and tarnish



Loren