A gamble with boxwood .

Kevin King · Post by **Kevin King** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 3:26 pm

I am going to order a chanter in C and I heard boxwood sound good for flat chanters. But I,m a bit conserned as I also heard that boxwood in prone to bend even after a long time. Would I be better to stick with ebony

Kevin

reedman · Post by **reedman** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 3:46 pm

If it were me, I 'd go for the ebony or one of the rosewood's,

I have seen to many warped & split boxwood chanters.

spend your hard earned money wisely. all the best.

Dionys · Post by **Dionys** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 4:21 pm

I have a boxwood flute over 200 years old that's completely unwarped and plays great. Boxwood has a great sound in my opinion (and many will challenge the idea that wood has anything to do with timbre in UP) so you shouldn't discount it. If, however, you're going to be doing a *lot* of traveling with in between *wide* variations of humidity/temperature, you'll want to go with a different wood. One of the rosewoods is what you should consider if that's the route you're going to take.

billh · Post by **billh** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 4:46 pm

Boxwood and ebony... totally different sounds.

I've never encountered a cracked boxwood chanter, except key blocks, and if anything ebony is more prone to cracking - it's certainly more brittle.

Boxwood does often warp significantly, but not always - if the thought of warping bothers you, perhaps another timber would be better. However the warping doesn't seem to affect the playing properties. I am not sure its warping/movement is particularly a problem with humidity swings, at least within the range encountered in pipes. Consider that boxwood flutes regularly survive wetting from inside while being played, followed by drying cycles...

Best regards,

Bill

WireHarp · Post by **WireHarp** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:00 pm

I also have a boxwood flute that is over two hundred years old, but it DOES have a warp to it. As Bill says, it doesn't seem to effect the tone or tuning at all. According to Dave SHorey, who once worked with the Dayton Miller Collection at the Smithsonian, anytime he wanted to move a flute in a case he simply left it overnight and it 'walked' its way into position, by warping/unwarping/warping/unwarping. It is a trait of boxwood.

Ebony, on the otherhand has more sever problems with shrinkage. As mentioned is is quite brittle and is far more inclined to crack. I have a Thin Weasel whistle from Glenn Shultz that cracked at just about every place it touched metal. Needless to say he stopped working with ebonybecause the stuff was so fussy.

Robert Mouland
www.wireharp.com

brendan ring · Post by **brendan ring** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:47 pm

I play a boxwood chanter and I prefer the sound. It is warped but in my opinion still sounds great. However, if warping concerns you, get your maker to microwave it, I've done this several times with perfect results.

The Sporting Pitchfork · Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:15 pm

My old Cillian Ó Bríain chanter was pretty darned warped (see photo in the "pictures of your pipes" thread--Maurice Reviol nicknamed it "the banana") but it plays fantastically.

If getting a boxwood set/chanter, do see if the maker "microwaves" the wood (there's a good description of this process on Hamish Moore's website) and make sure that they allow the boxwood ample time to rest between working it.

My new Galloway is perfectly straight so far (touch wood), but I would advise anyone playing boxwood instruments to try and keep them out of extreme changes in humidity just in case...

It's really six of one and half a dozen of the other, ultimately. Whatever wood you wind up choosing, what's most important is that the maker knows how to make a good reed!

The Sporting Pitchfork · Thu Jun 28, 2007 11:48 pm

Aha. Here's the bit about microwaving boxwood.

Hamish Moore wrote:
Seasoning should take place ideally in a temperature and humidity controlled environment over a period of years. The wood should be rough turned and stored in such a manner that a maximum amount of air circulates around the wood. Where appropriate a pilot hole should be bored in the wood to allow maximum evaporation of moisture from the wood. Boxwood presents its own special difficulties and is extremely prone to bending. It is however a valuable resource with a beautiful appearance and acoustic properties which are second to none. A system of microwaving the wood has been devised to minimise the bending. The wood is brought to boiling-point as quickly as possibly and kept as close to 100 degrees centigrade for a further 45 minutes. Wood that is destined to be made into a mouth blown instrument is then submerged in a bath of water for one hour before being left to dry for a further month. Wood which will be made into dry blown pipes is at this stage submerged in linseed oil. The theory behind microwaving is quite simply that the sap is boiled off, thus rupturing the cellular structure of the wood and relieving the stress which is present within the wood, and therefore allowing it to bend. The water or oil is then absorbed and occupies the inter-cellular spaces. The oil helps to add stability to the wood and in the case of water it then evaporates to an equalised level with the environmental humidity. After bending has taken place, the wood is trued up by re-turning between centres. In the majority of cases, the wood is stable at this point and no further bending takes place.

uilleannfinlander · Post by **uilleannfinlander** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:05 am

I have Dunne made boxw. -chanter about 3years now. no warpin/ bending at all. Sounds great.

uilleannfinlander · Post by **uilleannfinlander** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:48 am

uilleannfinlander wrote:

full size

This way...

uilleannfinlander · Post by **uilleannfinlander** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:26 pm

forgot to mention that this above pic has nothing to do with Dunne chanter,
whole fullset is from other maker...but box we trust even it's abit bendy

Kevin King · Post by **Kevin King** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:00 pm

You would be in trouble if the regulators started to bend .I like the boxwood ,the mounts look strange and the keys are a bit all over the place. I seen some of rogge,s other pipes and there very nice

Kevin

uilleannfinlander · Post by **uilleannfinlander** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:09 pm

troubles...so whatkinda...

The Sporting Pitchfork · Fri Jun 29, 2007 2:16 pm

Kevin King wrote:You would be in trouble if the regulators started to bend .I like the boxwood ,the mounts look strange and the keys are a bit all over the place. I seen some of rogge,s other pipes and there very nice

Kevin

How do the keys look "all over the place"? They look like normal chanter and regulator keys to me...

Boxwood is probably fine for most typical designs of regulators. Provided the wood has been properly treated and left to age for a good long time, any bending that takes place after receiving the instrument SHOULD be very slight and more or less imperceptible to the naked eye...There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. I've seen a couple of very old boxwood sets with kinda bent regulators and they still worked alright.

I would not, however, get boxwood regulators that have been encased in metal (i.e., "Taylor-style" regulators) as that might not be a good idea in the long-term. When Cillian switched over to making his "neo-Taylor-style" regs, he turned out a few all-boxwood sets before deciding that it wasn't the best of ideas and switching to just making the wood components of the regs in blackwood or holly.

Kevin King · Post by **Kevin King** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 5:41 am

I did not mean the regs in the picture are bent ,just that you would be in trouble if any regs bent. The wood in the regs in the picture looks straight.
there looks like there is a knot in the wood of the small reg at the end .I would not think wood with knots would make good pipes. I have heard just because you buy pipes from Mr Rogge does not mean he made them.

Kevin