 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: WoodwindOz
Date: 2012-11-20 00:08
I am notorious for never buying new staples. I luckily own enough that I shouldn't have to for awhile!
Today I gathered five tubes that were too small for my oboe (from overuse or were always that size), put them in a colander above a pot of boiling water for 10 mins, and all expanded to fit my oboe. I can't attest to the longevity of this treatment, but it works at least in the short term!
Anyway, my question in the quest to recycle staples relates to cleaning them. A few of my old ones do have some calcification/oxidation on the inside. How do people go about cleaning it out? Having seen what steam/water does to expanding corks, I'm not sure I want to be soaking them, so...what does one do?
Rachel
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Author: JRC
Date: 2012-11-20 16:14
Practically you steamed the tubes. All the air pockets in the cork would expand and obviously cork expanded its size. You should have pulled through pipe cleaner through the tube to clean out the gunk. Then, wet a pipe cleaner (not dripping wet) with WD40 and pull through the tube again to loosen up rust. Make sure you clean the WD40 thoroughly afterward as it is little bit poisonous.
I wonder if the glue to attach the cork to the metal tube may become undone. Apparently it did not, according to your experiment. But I would watch for that.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2012-11-20 20:57
To clean the insides of old staples, I use a tiny bristle brush covered with wet Comet cleanser, brushing it as far as possible into it. To clean the very small end, I put wet Comet cleanser on a pipe cleaner and twirl that around in the small end of the staple. As a result of this, the inside becomes shiny again, which I think is a good thing for the sound.
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Author: Oboe Craig
Date: 2012-11-20 23:43
On a tangent topic about expanding cork that has collapsed, I use a burning match over the tenon corks now and them to expand them. Technique is to wet the cork first, usually just with my mouth, then rotate it over a burning match no more than to where the cork just starts to darken (toast).
I do the same thing for staple corks and manage to use them for many cycles over many years, although they burn dark quicker than tenon corks.
I'd never considered using WD-40 inside the oboe or a staple and will remain agnostic about that, but it does inspire the imagination.
The smell and taste alone would deter me from doing that...but it is an interesting idea.
I do use it on my bike chains, though.
THe hot water approach seems very valid to me for staple. I'd prolly not dip my oboe tenons into it though.
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-11-21 00:46
one of those little dental brushes would work nicely for that.
GoodWinds
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-11-21 00:48
White vinegar will loosen up any calcium deposits, if you soak your reeds in tap water. If you DO use WD-40, please rinse with vinegar, hot water, and maybe some alcohol before swabbing it dry with a pipe cleaner.
GoodWinds
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Author: Oboe Craig
Date: 2012-11-21 00:51
I will give some more thought, but I do not think I have ever cleaned the inside of a staple in 40 years of playing.
My guess about that is the mandrel does a sufficient job keeping the little guy relatively clean.
But, I am open to learning new things. The notion cleaning might improve tone, tuning or some other aspect of playing seems worth investigation.
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Author: WoodwindOz
Date: 2012-11-21 03:37
Thanks all!
The idea of WD-40 makes sense...but I am way too scared to put that stuff near my mouth. I would probably get rather woozy from the smell, knowing me!
Vinegar sounds like a good plan, maybe I will try that followed by a mouthwash to clean through.
Most of them look fine, but the oldest ones seems to have a small amount of calcification. Our water back home can be quite hard at times, so this does not surprise me.
Time will tell with the success of my steaming. So far the glue looks fine. I attempted this with another staple a few weeks back, and it hasn't compressed down yet. I did try the wet-and-flame method, Chris. I got nowhere, until I held it to the flame just a microsecond too long - charred staple! Clearly I am not cut out for that technique!
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