What's your favorite wood for Pipes?

texasbagpiper · Post by **texasbagpiper** » Thu May 12, 2005 3:55 pm

Here is a Knive made with some of the darker stuff... its more of a red...

<img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y59/te ... er/kni.bmp" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

CJ DIXON · Post by **CJ DIXON** » Thu May 12, 2005 5:35 pm

What does everyone think of Pupleheart? My observations is it is similar in grain and density as Rosewood. It is not a popular choice for chanters and there are only a small handful of makers that use it... what an interesting color it is... purple is still masculin right?

Cheers,
CJ

Post by **Nanohedron** » Thu May 12, 2005 5:58 pm

Olivewood with brass fittings and horn mounts.

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Thu May 12, 2005 7:59 pm

I second that motion

Nanohedron wrote:Olivewood with brass fittings and horn mounts.

mukade · Post by **mukade** » Thu May 12, 2005 9:58 pm

Davey Stephenson experimented with many wood combinations on his pipes. I have one of his blackwood chanters with maple mounts.

Some archive pics from his old site.

Holly

Pink Ivory Chanter?

My own preference is for light-coloured sets. I love boxwood, and the grain my new curly lemonwood set by David Boisvert is stunning.

Mukade

josh perkins · Post by **josh perkins** » Thu May 12, 2005 10:02 pm

Knife?

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri May 13, 2005 4:15 am

josh perkins wrote:Knife?

.... no, no, no. It is a 'Bodhran Repellent Device'.

Kevin Popejoy · Post by **Kevin Popejoy** » Fri May 13, 2005 7:14 am

CJ DIXON wrote:What does everyone think of Pupleheart? My observations is it is similar in grain and density as Rosewood. It is not a popular choice for chanters and there are only a small handful of makers that use it... what an interesting color it is... purple is still masculin right?

Cheers,
CJ

I worked with it for a while but never really had satisfactory results. The grain was too shreddy and open to work with any kind of fine detail. The color is cool and all and it takes a nice polish, but fine edges tend to break away and crumble. Kind of funky to ream as well. Not very similar to the rosewoods I've worked with...(shrug). Works a treat for tool handles. k

CJ DIXON · Post by **CJ DIXON** » Fri May 13, 2005 9:27 am

Kevin wrote:
I worked with it for a while but never really had satisfactory results. The grain was too shreddy and open to work with any kind of fine detail. The color is cool and all and it takes a nice polish, but fine edges tend to break away and crumble. Kind of funky to ream as well. Not very similar to the rosewoods I've worked with...(shrug). Works a treat for tool handles.

Thanks for the feedback Kevin. It doesn't sound hopeful but I have a couple turning squares that I think I will do some experimenting with for the fun of it. If at the least it will make nice chisel handles

Cheers,
CJ

morten · Post by **morten** » Fri May 13, 2005 2:03 pm

Closeup of my old B-stick. I got a log of danish yew from a friend, who seasoned it for more than 25 years, brought it to Charles Roberts, and he made me this C-chanter. Never could make it work in C, but plays beautyful in tune in B.... :roll:

Nice mellow tone and it looks gorgeous.

Morten

NicoMoreno · Post by **NicoMoreno** » Fri May 13, 2005 2:47 pm

For a D set: ebony and boxwood with brass fittings. (soon... very, very soon)

For a flat set... hmmm I've always wondered about bloodwood. It would have to be a very deep red colour though.

marcpipes · Post by **marcpipes** » Fri May 13, 2005 3:00 pm

Bloodwood is beautiful stuff. I've made a couple of sets of smallpipes from it and a few pratice chanters. It has a slightly mellower soun than blackwood at about an eigth of the cost. I will continue to use it, but only for bellows blown pipes as it has a tendancy to crack from too much moisture.
Marc
P.S. It's also very nice for wands to be given to Harry Potter fans.

NicoMoreno · Post by **NicoMoreno** » Fri May 13, 2005 3:10 pm

Well, I would want a B flat set in Bloodwood...

and maybe cocobolo for a C set... or Cherry or something...

I guess that means I should go for Dogwood or get an E set... oh well!

texasbagpiper · Post by **texasbagpiper** » Fri May 13, 2005 4:11 pm

I've never used bloodwood, might give it a try

myrddinemrys · Post by **myrddinemrys** » Fri May 13, 2005 4:19 pm

Purple heart sounds cool, but I haven't seen it.

Ray Sloan is making mine from african blackwood.