I happened to have timed this where way too many flutes were finished about the same time, which gets a little overwhelming to take adequate pictures, edit, organize post on my website, and I'm a long way from there. But I've pulled a few for you to take a gander at.
Some of these woods I've not worked with at all or very little with...like this shimmering curly Myrtle from Oregon...beautiful iridescent patterns that pictures can't do justice...but the grain is wavy in 3-D, and can be a bear to plane as it is prone to chipping. The finished product is well worth it, though!
Bubinga is a very hard, dense wood from Africa, and is almost always found/used with the typical deep reddish brown heartwood. This particular board was in my local Woodcraft store on sale because it was the 'blonde' sapwood...gorgeous figuring throughout, but the piece just never sold because (I'm guessing) it wasn't the normal color people expected or wanted...but it sure made for a beautiful flute. Like the curly Myrtle, the 3-D grain of the figuring lends itself to chipping if you're not careful...
Now, I work with curly Maple a lot anyway, but this was a flute I made in the key of G that simply had sound 'issues'...had made a strange block design that helped calm the sound troubles, and the flute sounded 'okay'...but after a year of it just sitting, I did a radical maneuver I do only when there is no other option, to try and get it to a more 'top-drawer' flute: I cut off some of the barrel, drilled a large tuning whole on the bottom side, and enlarged the playing holes a little and actually took the flute up two half-steps to A...it was a risk, but it worked. Fine little player, this one...
Lastly, this flute originally was going to have a very intricate carving at the 'foot' end of the flute, but as I got into it I realized the wood and shape wasn't quite right...so I whacked it off and left the end of the barrel solid and put in a little rising sun inlay of pink coral and brass shavings. The block is one of my rare over-sized blocks of a praying eagle with it's wings in the forward position surrounding the bowed head. It's made with a lovely piece of figured old growth Sitka Spruce, and is sitting on top of a naturally weathered Ironwood log tip. It is massive, but it works well with the flute...and behind the block are 4 colored woods representing the 4 Directions to Native Americans: red: Bloodwood, yellow: Yellowheart, black: Ebony, white: Poplar. The flute is made in Peruvian Walnut (low D, FYI).
Alas, ran out of time in my day to get more done...just a sampler of what I've done to stay out of trouble lately...!
Some of these woods I've not worked with at all or very little with...like this shimmering curly Myrtle from Oregon...beautiful iridescent patterns that pictures can't do justice...but the grain is wavy in 3-D, and can be a bear to plane as it is prone to chipping. The finished product is well worth it, though!
Bubinga is a very hard, dense wood from Africa, and is almost always found/used with the typical deep reddish brown heartwood. This particular board was in my local Woodcraft store on sale because it was the 'blonde' sapwood...gorgeous figuring throughout, but the piece just never sold because (I'm guessing) it wasn't the normal color people expected or wanted...but it sure made for a beautiful flute. Like the curly Myrtle, the 3-D grain of the figuring lends itself to chipping if you're not careful...
Now, I work with curly Maple a lot anyway, but this was a flute I made in the key of G that simply had sound 'issues'...had made a strange block design that helped calm the sound troubles, and the flute sounded 'okay'...but after a year of it just sitting, I did a radical maneuver I do only when there is no other option, to try and get it to a more 'top-drawer' flute: I cut off some of the barrel, drilled a large tuning whole on the bottom side, and enlarged the playing holes a little and actually took the flute up two half-steps to A...it was a risk, but it worked. Fine little player, this one...
Lastly, this flute originally was going to have a very intricate carving at the 'foot' end of the flute, but as I got into it I realized the wood and shape wasn't quite right...so I whacked it off and left the end of the barrel solid and put in a little rising sun inlay of pink coral and brass shavings. The block is one of my rare over-sized blocks of a praying eagle with it's wings in the forward position surrounding the bowed head. It's made with a lovely piece of figured old growth Sitka Spruce, and is sitting on top of a naturally weathered Ironwood log tip. It is massive, but it works well with the flute...and behind the block are 4 colored woods representing the 4 Directions to Native Americans: red: Bloodwood, yellow: Yellowheart, black: Ebony, white: Poplar. The flute is made in Peruvian Walnut (low D, FYI).
Alas, ran out of time in my day to get more done...just a sampler of what I've done to stay out of trouble lately...!
2 comments:
Trying to send again ..... not sure if Blogger is working ..... did THIS one take??!
LOVE the new flutes! Especially the curly Myrtle and the praying eagle!
VERY nice work, Bob --- such high quality! :)
Suzy :)
Merci buckets-full!
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