Repurposing some Clarinet Wood into Flute Wood

[dubrosa22]

My man in the USA has delivered!
I just (very promptly) received my box of 10 x upper joint blanks, 10 x lower joint blanks and 5 x milled bells.
The quality of this wood is very nice.

The lower joints (3 bumps) are not equal in dimensions as mentioned above. 6 of mine are 9.85" (250mm) long Bb soprano lower joints with a tenon receiver at the top and a socket at the end. The other 4 are 11" or 280mm long and probably alto clarinet lower joints with a tenon receiver at the top and just an indentation and the bottom end. Or are they for an A clarinet? I don't have an A soprano or an Alto to compare.



This is a super rare chance for a weekend woodturner/flutemaker to try his hand at the 'good stuff'.
Thanks to the C&F forum for letting me find the wonderful person to come to my aid and obtain these blanks.

Vaughan

[pancelticpiper]

I will have a booth (#325) at the NFA convention--come by and say hello!

Awesome, I will!

For those that haven't been, the NFA convention is an amazing experience for any fluteplayer, even us who only know how to play Irish flute.

Did you hear about my encounter with Ralph Sweet at the convention many years ago? At his booth he had 30 or so Irish flutes, half in maple, half in rosewood. I noticed all the maple ones had a bigger tone, the rosewood ones a more muted tone. I right away (like many Irish fluteplayers) started pulling off the headjoints and sticking a finger in the top of the body section to feel the bore ID, and I pointed out to Ralph that all the maple flutes had a bigger bore size than all the rosewood ones.

He was utterly puzzled. "I don't understand it. I use the same tool and the same number of passes..."

Then a lightbulb came on and he said "I know now! Maple is softer and the tool takes away more wood!"

I frankly was amazed that a guy who had made as many flutes as he had (around a thousand at that point) didn't know what the bores of his flutes were.

Anyhow I'll come by. I'm easy to spot, I look like Dr Henry Jones Sr.

[Geoffrey Ellis]

I will have a booth (#325) at the NFA convention--come by and say hello!

Awesome, I will!

For those that haven't been, the NFA convention is an amazing experience for any fluteplayer, even us who only know how to play Irish flute.

Did you hear about my encounter with Ralph Sweet at the convention many years ago? At his booth he had 30 or so Irish flutes, half in maple, half in rosewood. I noticed all the maple ones had a bigger tone, the rosewood ones a more muted tone. I right away (like many Irish fluteplayers) started pulling off the headjoints and sticking a finger in the top of the body section to feel the bore ID, and I pointed out to Ralph that all the maple flutes had a bigger bore size than all the rosewood ones.

He was utterly puzzled. "I don't understand it. I use the same tool and the same number of passes..."

Then a lightbulb came on and he said "I know now! Maple is softer and the tool takes away more wood!"

I frankly was amazed that a guy who had made as many flutes as he had (around a thousand at that point) didn't know what the bores of his flutes were.

Anyhow I'll come by. I'm easy to spot, I look like Dr Henry Jones Sr.

Interesting! I would have ventured that the rosewood had shrunk a bit after reaming rather than the maple lost more material during the reaming process. My own experience has been that stable dry woods ream to the exact same dimensions with the same tool, providing that there is enough "meat" to the piece (a large enough O.D.) to make it stable during reaming. I've re-reamed flute bores on flutes that are already formed (a delicate task if you don't want to crack the flute) and some woods are highly flexible and resist the reamer a bit if the walls are thinned, sort of flexing around it in a rubbery fashion, making it harder for the reamer to take a bite, depending upon the type of reamer being used. But I'd cast my vote for the shrinking rosewood. Most of the rosewoods I've used, even when very dry and stable, tend to shrink a bit after reaming (which is why it's a good idea to re-ream them a bit after they rest). I would assume the maple was just drier and more stable (possibly having been kiln dried?) Unless of course he measured the bores and found that the rosewood still had the exact profile of his reamer, in which case I would also be mystified

I'll keep my eye peeled for Indie's dad!

[waltsweet]

Doggone it; the 3-bumps are gone! I can make heads from the others.
216 - 75 = only 141 pcs remaining!
I could have used some blanks of a different size for my smaller insturments. Oh well, I will proceed accordionly, as we say in the music business.

[Geoffrey Ellis]

Looks like this clarinet wood was a one-time thing, sadly. I called them up to ask if they thought they'd get anymore and was told no, at least not in the foreseeable future. I suspect they simply acquired the lot as a one-off. So I suppose I should count my blessings

[Casey Burns]

These parts were for 2 different models of LeBlanc clarinets, according to the boxes these parts came in. Sonata and Espirit. I just today finished turning a batch of 60 Folk Flutes using the 2 bump wood for the middle joints and the 3 bump wood for the lower joints, and new wood for head joints. It will be great to have inventory and flutes people only have to wait a week or two for! Turning these is what I have been up to since the middle of August. Future batches will probably smaller but my goal is to build up enough of an inventory that I can eventually retire from making this particular model, but keep selling them deep into the future and focus on other instruments.

I have found one box of the 2 bump wood where the pieces are 195mm long - I require 200mm. Not sure what I will do with these - though I am making some higher pitched flutes where these might come in useful. There are usually 60 to 65 pieces per box and all are labeled as to which clarinet these were for, if they have completed tenons. Some of the 2 bump pieces that I am using for middle joints already have tenons on them - though larger in diameter than what I need. I found that supporting these with a hose clamp during reaming was sufficient to prevent the lower tenon from cracking. To get the correct length all I have to do on these is cut off the upper tenon flush with the shoulder, and reface the wood. These scraps made from the sawn off tenons will burn like coal in my woodstove!

Casey

[dubrosa22]

Interesting.
The Sonata (#1020S) and Esprit (#1040S) models were the 'entry-level' professional model offered by Leblanc in the early 2000s. So, sitting about two thirds up the ladder of wood quality, I imagine.

http://www.clarinetperfection.com/galle ... etAd08.pdf

I have an Eb sopranino Esprit and it is a truly beautiful instrument. Gorgeous in every way.
Leblanc were a huge giant in woodwinds and now sadly (mostly) gone forever

V

[Casey Burns]

Here are 60 Folk Flute bodies, made with the repurposed LeBlanc clarinet wood for the middle and lower joints. I just finished the laser engraving of my maker's label an hour ago.

I found out more about this wood today. Sadly there will be no more available. These were part of a 15 pallet lot of clarinet parts, wood, etc. after Selmer/Conn shut down the LeBlanc production line. It sat is some warehouse for about 4 years before one of the Elkhart band instrument repair suppliers purchased the lot. The purchase included blackwood squares (all gone), clarinet parts in various stage of completion including joints with all the tone holes drilled, some with all the pins mounted. Some of the keys etc. went into their regular replacement parts bins For everything else they made up some "grab bags" of random parts that they sell to instrument technicians.

The boxes are all labeled as to the year these parts were generated. Most of the boxes of my clarinet tubes are dated to 1997 and around. One can assume that the wood for these had been aging at least 10 years before it got to this state - thus 1980s. Its nice to be using such well aged wood for my instruments!

Casey