I'll give a happy second to Tommy Dion's whistles. I have 2 of his, and I wouldn't trade them for anything.Ballyshannon wrote:Tommy Dion is making some excellent wood whistles for well under $250...see thread at viewtopic.php?f=1&t=67562. Then there's Gene Milligan....see thread at viewtopic.php?f=1&t=68583
Glenluce Wooden whistle
Re: Glenluce Wooden whistle
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which is least known--Montaigne
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light
--Plato
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light
--Plato
-
Yuri
- Posts: 371
- Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 11:01 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: New Zealand
- Contact:
Re: Glenluce Wooden whistle
An aside about maple.
Different kinds of maple have different hardness. It also depends on just where the tree happened to grow. The same species will produce widely varied examples depending on dryness, heat/cold, etc in the immediate environment.
For a second point, most maple instruments made in big factories are impregnated with wax. What they do is load the billets in an airproof chamber, and then under high pressure flood it with hot wax. As the maple is fairly porous, on a microscopical level, all the pores get filled up with wax. So as a result what you have is a completely water-proof, stable, etc, etc piece of wood. It's still not African Blackwood, but a big improvement on dry maple.
Different kinds of maple have different hardness. It also depends on just where the tree happened to grow. The same species will produce widely varied examples depending on dryness, heat/cold, etc in the immediate environment.
For a second point, most maple instruments made in big factories are impregnated with wax. What they do is load the billets in an airproof chamber, and then under high pressure flood it with hot wax. As the maple is fairly porous, on a microscopical level, all the pores get filled up with wax. So as a result what you have is a completely water-proof, stable, etc, etc piece of wood. It's still not African Blackwood, but a big improvement on dry maple.
-
brewerpaul
- Posts: 7300
- Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: Clifton Park, NY
- Contact:
Re: Glenluce Wooden whistle
Not to contradict Mitch or to toot my own, um, whistle... but I've made a lot of maple whistles that have turned out very well. True, maple is relatively soft compared to a lot of the exotics. You need to use very sharp tools and make lots of small, delicate cuts. I also treat the bore with a wood hardener to make these whistles less porous. It's extra work but when I find a nice piece of birdseye or other figured Maple, it's worth the effort.
Re: Glenluce Wooden whistle
Those are some beautiful pieces on your web site, Paul.