Old pipemaking woods

[mirabai]

In attempting to use maple for an odd prototype, I discovered that maple's softness not only soaks up the tone significantly but effects the grosser acoustics as well to the extent that a maple chanter essentially won't "work" until you coat the bore with oil or laquer at which point it immediatley and totally changes pitch as well as tone. There is a domestic wood that is quite suitable called Mountain Mahogany. It is quite hard and looks a bit like cocus wood. It grows in the rockies.

[djm]

If I recall correctly, only rock maple comes close. The other maples are too soft. Have you ever tried coating/sealing the inside with urethane for hardness?

djm

[mirabai]

Rock Maple was what I used and the laquer was urethane I believe.

[BigDavy]

Hi Mirabai

Next time you use maple, try deep frying it to seal / stabilise the wood.

David

[ausdag]

Broomstickwood would be great for your homebrew projects - !

I'll certainly be cutting my teeth on broomsticks before attempting the more exotic timbers. What sort of wood are they in general?
Cheers,

DavidG

Rather than waste time on the cheaper broomsticks (though I've seen a _few_ that were OK for making wooden mandrels), why not get some half-decent beechwood or maple? Those woods will at least approximate the denser timbers better than other 'broomstick' woods, and they aren't expensive.


Bill

Just want something cheap to practice turning, beading, mounts and all that. When tone is an issue, then I'll turn to better woods.


Cheeers,

DavidG

[ausdag]

Hi Mirabai

Next time you use maple, try deep frying it to seal / stabilise the wood.

David

Does that come crumbed or battered?

[billh]

In attempting to use maple for an odd prototype, I discovered that maple's softness not only soaks up the tone significantly but effects the grosser acoustics as well to the extent that a maple chanter essentially won't "work" until you coat the bore with oil or laquer at which point it immediatley and totally changes pitch as well as tone. There is a domestic wood that is quite suitable called Mountain Mahogany. It is quite hard and looks a bit like cocus wood. It grows in the rockies.

Hi miribai:

I had a similar experience with pearwood. Lacquer alone didn't do the trick for me (probably some grain-raising interactions even after lightly re-reaming), but lacquer + oil did. I hope to do some side-by-side experiments with different bore 'treatments' at some point. Oddly, another pearwood design was fine without this, but on that chanter I had used a proprietary wax mixture to lubricate the reamer.

Bill

[boyd]

Hi Mirabai

Next time you use maple, try deep frying it to seal / stabilise the wood.

David

Does that come crumbed or battered?

I've discovered in my time here in Scotland that they'll deep fry pretty well anything, even pizza, Mars bars, Snickers, ice cream....probably even the mother-in law and whatever else takes your fancy.

Well, you gotta do something like that if you're to beat the Fins and the Irish to top of the world's Heart Attack league table


Boyd

[Hans-Joerg]

I was asking myself something: Up in Donegal (and I think not just there) nearly every "town" has a bog of its own and every family have their "claim" to cut turf. Where the bog is stripped down you´ll find lots of old tree-"chunks". They mostly are fir but they are referred to as "bog-oak". They obviously are several thousand years old, have become very dense and dark-brownish meanwhile (lovely wood) and are available in masses. Has anybody ever heard of a set made from "bog-oak"?
Best,
Hans

[Thies]

[...] Well, you gotta do something like that if you're to beat the Fins and the Irish to top of the world's Heart Attack league table

But my guess is that in Finland it's not really the deep fried stuff that causes so many heart attacks. Even though junk food is really "en vogue" there ...

[Cayden]

Has anybody ever heard of a set made from "bog-oak"?
Best,
Hans

During the early 80s Tom White made a flute out of bog oak. I don't think he tried a chanter or any other part of the pipes. He may have though.

Bog oak once trying does have a tendency to split and fall to bits. Bog Larch is actually the nicer (and older) wood you find in the bog. If you bring a lorry people are often happy to get rid of it.

[djm]

My undersanding of the bog-woods is that they are full of holes, checks, burls, weaknesses. I know pipe-carvers (tobacco pipes) love the stuff, but that is such a small piece. You would need a long, straight, unblemished piece to carve a chanter, and I'm not sure such a thing exists.

djm

[Lorenzo]

There is a domestic wood that is quite suitable called Mountain Mahogany. It is quite hard and looks a bit like cocus wood. It grows in the rockies.

I didn't know it grew in the Rockies, but I'm not surprised. It also grows in Oregon, California, Baja, the Channel Islands, South Dakota, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Mexico. While doing forestry in eastern Oregon, I use to run into large groves of Curl Leaf Mountain Mahogany...hundreds of trees visible from a standing position. It's categorized as a weed by the USFS, as is the Juniper (these two trees often grow in the same areas). Because of it's density, we used a few dead broken branches for campfires. It burns forever and turns into coals that will hold overnight and on into the next night or two. Forest fires cannot even not kill this tree, regardless of it's small size (12-20 ft. high). It's a real survivor. You can't even kill it by chopping at it with an axe. The axe will hardly even penetrate the wood. The chain of a chainsaw will become dull and useless in short order.

I'm not surprised that it turns well since it doesn't spinter.

A few years ago, at one of Kevin Burkes parties in Portland, I ran into a guy who sought out stand of these trees. He used the wood for making violin pegs and tail pieces. He'd written and published several article on the wood and had lectured at several universities about it's overlooked potential. Once he found out I knew where a lot of these stands of trees were, he wouldn't let me go until I drew him some maps.

[tommykleen]

It is my understanding that many tree species that grow in bogs grow rather slowly due to the nutrient-poor environment. Thus the growth rings would be tighter/smaller. Perhaps good for insttrument making?

Mind you, in many regions of the world where you find bogs, the tree species diversity is rather low.

t

[Cayden]

The thing with bog wood is that the trees died and disappeared under the bog as it was formed and stayed there from 3000-10000 years. There's an awful lot of it and I see huge pieces pulled out of fields regularly.