What your seeing is a product of the staining process, rolling the wood in hot sand, if I recall correctly, creating the stripy round pattern.

For (another) example:

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My brain hurts

[quote="Mr.Gumby"]What your seeing is a product of the staining process, rolling the wood in hot sand, if I recall correctly, creating the stripy round pattern.

quote]

I believe the 'stripy' pattern is the natural figure of the flame maple used in the set, it's the same wood us violin makers use for backs, ribs, and necks. It looks like 'rings' when you turn a block of it.

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- - - Spence - - -

A little autobiography, including pictures, Here
Actually, I hate music. I'm only doing this for the money.

is the pattern permanent? or will it fade in time?

On-topic: Fantastic looking pipes Mr Patrick. Congratulations!

The flame pattern is in the wood itself, and will not fade. It may become less high-contrast if handled a lot over many many many years(from the oils on your hands) but it's not something that will 'rub off' or anything like that.

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- - - Spence - - -

A little autobiography, including pictures, Here
Actually, I hate music. I'm only doing this for the money.

That will vary from one type of wood to the next though, the ringpattern in for example the box chanter in the pic is a result of the staining process. It will occur in old stained box chanters and old box flutes. But I know to little of that to comment much further, I assumed it was the case also in the two sets shown above and caused the resemblance mentioned.

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My brain hurts

Very true that it varies across different pieces of wood, and certainly different species. Fine snakewood can have the figure shown in the Rogge set, and the same with some species of maple, such as in the Hubbert set. Even boxwood can have figure like that. Yes, in your picture of the box chanter, it appears the 'lines' are the result of the staining process (I don't know the exact process), but in the other two sets it's the natural character of the wood, brought out even more by how it's finished, but not something that was artificially created. Here's a piece of flamed maple (also called tiger maple, etc.) in it's natural, unfinished state for comparison, and a piece of unfinished, natural snakewood.

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- - - Spence - - -

A little autobiography, including pictures, Here
Actually, I hate music. I'm only doing this for the money.

Hubbert has done several sets with acid-stained boxwood as well and the results are similar to that of the maple but without the strong rings that you see if the maple. There is an interesting story behind the acquisition of the maple in my set. Came from a farmer in Oregon back in the 80's and has been aging since.

In any case, the wood itself is resin impregnated via a high-pressure vacuum process and then acid-stained. Below is an example of some of the early experiments with processing the wood. The set really lights up in the sunlight. While it looks a bit like snakewood when you set it in person it really looks like maple.

There are some other great photos on the site showing some of box sets that Michael has done.



Here's an early detail of the set including the chanter at a point when it really allowed for some tight playing.

Ah yes! nothing like a bit of pipers porno to start off the new year.

RORY

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I'm Spartacus .

To be honest, It's not entirely clear that this is the wood that Hubbert got from me in the early '80s. It's the same species and quality, and looks to me like the same stuff, but with the intervening decades and a couple of moves Michael cannot recall if this is in fact the same piece. The curly big-leaf maple he got from me was sourced from a gentleman named "Burl" Cheatle in Sequim, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula, who was a wood supplier to Gibson Guitars. It was part of a large pile of chainsaw-rough chunks which he tossed out the second-story window of a barn where it had been stored, and sold to me for a pittance and a promise to make Mr. Cheatle a curly maple toilet seat. I divided the haul with my traveling companion Willie Sears, whose workshop burned not long after. The remainder, which varied widely in quality, has been made into an assortment of instruments, boxes, and tools, including the stand for my table saw, which I use daily. I've made quite a few tool handles from it too. I still have three 1" planks of the same quality as Patrick's set, and there's a possibility Hubbert might make a bass regulator for him out of this material some day.

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Jonathan

Help, Help! I'm being repressed...

Thanks for the story! I always find the history of the materials fascinating. Now we just need to get the bio on the mammoth.

And yes, there will hopefully be a bass reg next year!

Me too! If I find a meteorite one day, I'll see if I could make a reed staple out of it. Or give it to a pipe maker to make a ferrule' chanter key, or even regulator key out of it or something... I'm serious! (Or give it to a blade smith and make some sort of blade)


I wonder if you could give a pipe maker some wood that you have had growing in your yard. (Being seasoned, of course)

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We musicians are enemies by disposition, so treat every musician you happen to meet, accordingly.

Remember to love the music and hate the people

Just make sure its not a frozen turd from a passing 747.

RORY

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I'm Spartacus .

Yes, forgot about that! Or a piece of burnt up underwear launched from the ISS.

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We musicians are enemies by disposition, so treat every musician you happen to meet, accordingly.

Remember to love the music and hate the people

I wonder if you could give a pipe maker some wood that you have had growing in your yard. (Being seasoned, of course)

Sure. I gave Seth a piece of quince from a tree I had pruned, and had him make me a bass reg. with it. Beautiful.

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Fergus Maunsell
Belfast
Ireland

http://www.myspace.com/fergusmaunsell