Wood Preferences...

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 1:03 am

It's time to order some wood for the ol' stock shelf...what do you folks think is the most attractive wood?

1. boxwood
2. cocobolo
3. ebony

http://www.domainnamesanity.com/webumak ... lable.html

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 2:33 am

What, no Greenwood?

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 4:58 am

Had to go with Cocobolo.

Ebony is too easy to mistake for black plastic!

Box is a little too pale for my tastes, makes us Brits look positively swarthy.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 4:59 am

I voted for Cocobolo. Give me a wild looking timber any day. Some of my other favorites are Tulipwood, Olivewood, Bocote and Kingwood. I am welcome to any suggestions that C&Fers may have.
I like wood that LOOKS like wood. Many people love Blackwood, and it has excellent instrument properties, but it comes out looking like black plastic to my eyes.

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:08 am

Martin Milner wrote:Ebony is too easy to mistake for black plastic!

brewerpaul wrote: Many people love Blackwood, and it has excellent instrument properties, but it comes out looking like black plastic to my eyes.

Synchronicity!

You know what I always say, Paul? Great minds think alike, fools never differ.

chas · Post by **chas** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:30 am

For sheer aesthetic beauty, cocobolo wins hands down. But gimme box for sound any day. Also, box seems to age well, turns that nice caramel color, whereas cocobolo sometimes darkens to where it looks not unlike blackwood.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:43 am

The darkened color found on boxwood isn't a natural occurance of the wood as it ages. The wood is treated (fumed) by placing it over a trough of acid (the wood doesn't get dipped) allowing the vapors to oxidize and darken the wood.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 6:01 am

Amonsgt the choices, i vote for stained boxwood. But my favourite pretty wood is ironwood, which the Australians call Cooktown Ironwood. Very beautiful red color with translucent green highlights, just beautiful. Or good old blackwood, with its subtle brown and gray highlights.

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 6:15 am

I voted for cocobolo, since we have this "closed" and restricted question.
Now, when a question of tone and quality of surface finish, IMHO African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) seems hard to equal, if not by woods of the same family (and cocobolo is one).
Never had a chance to try cocus, though--but maybe better so, given its terrible reputation as an allergenic.
For the looks, see a nicely made blackwood, carefully polished and cured to high gloss, and with satin (semi-glossy) sterling-silver joints and ferrules... then tell me if it looks like a plastic recorder.
Properly cured, this wood will endure any climate and properly oiled, its subtle black-brown grain...

Martin Milner wrote:Box is a little too pale for my tastes, makes us Brits look positively swarthy.

Heaven forbids!

The only wood becoming to the delicate Brit-in-July complexion, and rare to match, would be pink ivory.

How would I know? We got them toasting in Mesquer all summer!

True they do seem to shed for winter. Or is it to avoid detention at the customs when sailing back home?

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 6:30 am

Davey,

Do you have a fax? There's some wood I was beginning to tell you about. I would like to fax an article to you. You can email me at:

jerryREMOVETHISSPAMBLOCKER@tcenet.net

Delete REMOVETHISSPAMBLOCKER from the email address and it will work properly.

Best wishes,
Jerry

chas · Post by **chas** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 7:49 am

Tony wrote:The darkened color found on boxwood isn't a natural occurance of the wood as it ages. The wood is treated (fumed) by placing it over a trough of acid (the wood doesn't get dipped) allowing the vapors to oxidize and darken the wood.

The atmosphere oxidizes it pretty well, too. It does darken with age just as many other woods do (I know this by having a whistle that is somewhat darker than it was when it was new). Acid staining does the job quickly, and possibly more completely.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 8:07 am

Nearly all woods darken when exposed to direct sunlight, cherry is one of my favorites when it doesn't require matching to other pieces.

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 9:02 am

Ahh...great minds DO think alike!

1. Greenwood--> Is the "english" translation of "Boisvert"

2. Boxwood--> Is an INCREDIBLE wood...smells like buttered popcorn when turned on the lathe. I prefer acid stained boxwood...BUT the ACID part scares the bejeebers out of me after "the incident".

I prefer to let nature have it's way.

3. Cocobolo--> Also, here I agree...I LOVE the look of WOOD. And it doesn't get much more visually stimulating than cocobolo. And it is an amazingly STABLE and tough wood.0

4. Ebony / blackwood--> Yep...tonally it's amazing stuff..and fresh off the lathe it has beautiful features and depth of grain...but VERY quickly darkens to a black..almost plastic look. Ebony has more character, but tends to be brittle. I won't make fipples out of ebony..too risky..blackwood bodies with delrin fipples look quite nice.

thanks for all the input...!!!
David

lixnaw · Post by **lixnaw** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 3:50 pm

i believe not 1 wooden whistle can match up with a burke composite

chas · Post by **chas** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 4:25 pm

lixnaw wrote:i believe not 1 wooden whistle can match up with a burke composite

Them's fightin' words. Have you played:

Thin Weasel
Bleazey
Grinter
Wilson
Busman
Swayne
O'Riordan concert whistle
Greenwood/Boisvert

I own the first four and have orders to the last three. I will never say a bad thing about a whistle Mike Burke has made (I'm lukewarn to a couple, but absolutely love the other five I own, and rate the AlPro low-G and the composite low-E among the best whistles I own), but can say that any of the high-quality wooden whistles can match up with ANY whistle out there.

All of these whistles may not be to your taste, but I think the Busman is quite similar in sound to a Burke WBB, but lighter and a heckuva lot prettier. The Grinter is sweet without being recordery; the Bleazey is every bit as big-sounding and authoratative as a Copeland, and the Thin Weasel -- well, there's nothing I could say that could possibly do it justice, it's got so many good characteristics.

I will add, in lixnaw's vein, that there's no material that a whistle can be made from that can match up with boxwood.

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