Whistle makers: Stainless steel whistle bodies anyone?

[Ceili_whistle_man]

I've just done a (very late) spring clean of my shed and found a few bits and pieces of whistle projects I had forgotten about.
So here, for you whistle makers out there, is something that may (or may not, who knows?) be of interest to you.
I have here ten lengths of stainless steel tubing, each piece being 28cm/11inches long. The wall thickness is, as near as I can see with my calibrated eyeball (I don't have calipers to measure them), the same as the nickel D Generation whistles I own. The diameter of the tubes is very close to the Gen, with the little bit of slop taken up from the ever so slightly smaller stainless tube by applying a coat of (my wife's) clear nail varnish. That did the trick for me.
These tubes have been lying in my shed for about 6 years or more, and they look as good as new, no scratches and with (obviously) no tarnishing on them. They have a slightly brushed look to the finish....I just went up to my shed and just gave one of the tubes a quick 30 second run on the buffing wheel, they polish up like chrome. Beautiful!
It was my intent to make a batch of stainless steel D whistle bodies out of this tubing, but I stopped making my 'Ceili' whistles about five or six years ago so the tubes have been lying just gathering dust.
If anyone is interested in taking these off my hands, free of course, I will send them on to you postage paid.
The only proviso is, if and when anyone wants to venture into the world of stainless steel bodied whistles, I would like one of the whistles for myself, gratis of course .
Later I shall try uploading a few pics of the tubes, polished and unpolished. Maybe by then I will have knocked up a quick prototype to show you all. I don't know about getting a sound clip up though, I have no idea if my wife's laptop is capable of sound recording. (I'm waiting on a new computer arriving, damn, I miss not having the big comp' here)
I may split the tubes into two lots of five if more than one person is really interested.

[Tommy]

A gratis whistle sounds fair to me. I have sent you a PM.

[syn whistles]

pm sent likewise. A BD with a s/s body might solve a problem!

[PhilO]

Ok, Erle, a BD with a stainless steel body; sign me up now please. Really.

Philo

[syn whistles]

I'll se how I go with them Philo. What's the attraction for you? I've got an Irish customer who might be interested because his palm sweat etches aluminium....

[swizzlestick]

I've got an Irish customer who might be interested because his palm sweat etches aluminium....

I have that problem too. Well, it's more like a quick tarnish. My fingerprints are not actually etched into the aluminum.

[PhilO]

The attractions for me Erle are the maker, BD, and a most manly and sturdy of materials that looks cool with black delrin. I hope that qualifies....

Best,

Philo

[syn whistles]

CWM,
I think I am having trouble sending my address via pm. If you haven't recieved it, would you mind sending me an email via the link below?
Cheers, Erle.

[Ceili_whistle_man]

No problems at my end Erle, I got your contact details (three times!!)
Check your pm's.

Cheers.

[syn whistles]

Whale oil beef hooked meself!
cheers.

[henryz]

I'd be most interested in hearing how the tone hole drilling goes. Problems you might have and the tools/methods you used to get around those problems.

[Ceili_whistle_man]

I spent about an hour yesterday knocking up a quick prototype D whistle from one of the stainless steel tubes that I have here. (Don't worry Tommy and Erle, it's a piece that I had cut to the bell note length of D a few years back, your batches are still intact)
I spent maybe half an hour tidying up around the tone holes and the cut end of the tube, the whistle is still a little rough around the edges finish wise, but I just wanted to show what could be done in a reasonably short period of time in regards to making a playable whistle.
I tuned the bell note with an electronic tuner and then did the rest of the tuning by ear. I was not too concerned about getting the tuning spot on, just close enough to give a demonstration of what can be done in a relatively short time.
This is not to take away from any of the more dedicated whistle makers out there who spend more time than they would like (at the expense of a normal life; been there, done that, bought the t-shirt) making whistles.
There are many more steps involved along the way to creating a batch of whistles (by hand) that could be classed as 'the same' tonally, so hats of to you fella's out there who stick at it to assuage the WHOA of the whistle punters.

Here are a few pic's of the s/steel whistle I just made.
This first one shows from top to bottom; two Gen D tubes, the stainless steel whistle I made with a Gen D top on it, a partially polished s/steel tube and finally an untouched s/steel tube. They don't need much buffing to get them shining like chrome.


Below is a view (sorry about the macro focus) of the bottom three tone holes, I tried to show the weld line that runs down the inside of the tube, it is visible to the top of the middle hole in the pic.


A better view of the weld.


A view of two tubes, you can see how smooth the inside of the tubes are.


I didn't use any special tools, just what I had available at home, a drill press, various sized drill bits, a couple of round files and some different grades of wet and dry paper to smooth off the outside of the tube of any nicks and scratches. The stainless steel is a bit harder to work than aluminium or brass, but it didn't cause me any headaches.
I realise that not everyone would have a bench grinder/buffer or a drill press in their shed or would have use for a carbide tile-cutting saw, but again none of the tools I used are 'speciality' type tools, all are ready available off the shelf in hardware stores.
(Feel free to resize the pics Mr. Moderator, they look fine on my laptop but may not suit others viewing options)

[ The pix look fine. - Mod. ]

[henryz]

Thanks much for all the photos and explanation! Very nice job, considering that SS can be a real machinist's nightmare. I've not had very good experience drilling SS (304 grade - non-whistle related project) in the past. Perhaps more patience is in order.

[Ceili_whistle_man]

I drilled the holes in the stainless steel in increments, starting with a 3mm pilot hole then working up through each drill size until I was close to the correct tone for each hole. It also helps to keep your drill bits sharpened to avoid binding.
The small step method means that there is less grabbing from the drill bits on the work material, remember, what you take off from the tube you can't replace, so when near to the right tone it's softly, softly.
Speed doesn't always win the race.

[Ceili_whistle_man]

I should also mention that when I trimmed the tube to length to get the bell note of 'D', I used a carbide blade fitted on a hacksaw to cut the tube. Stainless steel tends to turn 'blue' where the metal is exposed to any high temperatures from carborundum cutting discs.