THANX Julia and Colin! I finally had the courage (had nightmares of the wood splitting apart) to pull out the heat gun.
it worked easily! within a few minutes the joints let go ... aahhh ... there were 3 frozen joints - 1 is the joint with the valve that attaches to the bag. the other 2 were - both chanters into the adapter piece that fits into the main piece that fits in the bag. (having 2 different chanters, i could leave them in this adapter, and easily change the one i use) to answer your question... i live in the nw u.s.a. - a place known for it's humidity. for the verdigris. . . in this country we have a clear liquid ... "rubbing" or isopropyl alcohol. turns out it works to get rid of the green until now i have used, i thought successfully - cold press, extra virgin, olive oil. a while ago i remember there was some discussion of oils. . . i don't recall the favorites. which is your favorite oil? and Colin ... it turns out i have a favorite old (torn) silk shirt i couldn't throw out ... thanx for helping me find new life for it! thanx, again for your help victor On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 01:09, Julia Say <[1]julia....@nspipes.co.uk> wrote: On 8 Jan 2011, Victor Eskenazi wrote: > my pipes have sat for too long > 1 - the weather here is very damp Where is "here" (roughly)? >turns out the joints are stuck. > any suggestions on how to unstick them - without waiting for the right brief immersion in hot water or gently heating with a hot air gun on a lowish setting (depends on model), followed by a gentle twisting action. I'm assuming this is primarily the drone slides though the air gun would work on chanter stock joints too. Mind the chanter foot if it's plastic - the gun could melt it if used incautiously. And mind your fingers on any ferrule in the area you are heating. > 2 - any suggestions on cleaning the green off the brass? Methylated spirit (the purple stuff in the UK -industrial alcohol elsewhere?), applied with a cloth, followed by brass polish. And don't use olive oil or keep your set shut in a box in the future - it aggravates the verdigris problem at the least. The jury is out on whether it actually causes it. Good luck Julia -- References 1. mailto:julia....@nspipes.co.uk To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
