Short-term apologies to James, Christa, Ken, Rick, and Mike...your flute projects are on the top of my list (no, really!), but for the past couple of weeks I felt led to build up my stockpile of "flubies", or flutes-to-be. I will say that the tremendous amount of time to fully shape, sand, and finish a flute is time-consuming, but it has the distinct advantage that the tools involved are rather simple and more flexible in their use. I can pick up one flute and sand pretty quickly.
What takes longer stretches of uninterrupted time is the very beginning of it all...the selection of wood, preparation of the blanks, proper cutting and planing before routing, after careful measurements and markings...and those steps require the bigger, heavier equipment and lots of focused attention. It's the type of staging that you rarely go through for just one flute if you are busy, which I've been of late...so I decided to do one of my big batches to use time and machines more efficiently.
These pictures are only about 80% of the ones at this stage, with another 10-12 in the glue-up assembly line. (FYI, From this hexagonal stage I next create the sound hole mechanism and then drop the finger holes in place - and, no, it's not that simple!) Pictured below are two hybrid Half-Pipes in the mid F to G range under the clamps...and not that you can tell, but left is Sassafras and right is some beautiful golden Mahogany. I wish I could capture the smell of Sassafras when you cut or sand it...intoxicatingly sweet, it is.
This batch of ~55 'flubies' will potentially have keys ranging from my rare specialty ultra-high A Half-Pipes down a hair over two octaves to bass G. There's a good mix of round-bore and half-pipe designs to meet various budgets, though the half-pipe design is limited to nothing lower than mid F, maybe mid E. Part of the purposeful design of batching flutes this way is it give the wood time to 'cure' into its new form, allowing the grain to settle, which is helpful for tuning purposes.
Will all of these make it to Flutedom? No. There will always be a few (very few) of those flutes that just won't play right or well no matter what you do...and though noisome to me, I understand they can teach me something new if I spend enough time with them. The rarest of the rare trouble-makers visit the fireplace.
For the sake of testing my memory, the woods scattered in the pictures are Ambrosia Maple, Aspen, Poplar, Black Limba, Cocobolo, Purpleheart, Bloodwood, Sapele, Western Cedar, Eastern Cedar, Ipe, Massarunduba, Papua New Guinea Walnut, American Cherry, Brazilian Cherry, Mahogany, Sassafras, Wenge, Curly Maple, Pecan, and old-growth Great Fir. The pink ones in the upper left corner are two ultra high A plastic flutes made from pink and black #17 Bates knitting needles from a craft store...play great,too! Once I get caught up orders and get a few more stock up, I have a heap more other woods I want to bring to life. Ah, so many flutes to dream about making, and so many weather forecasts to get in the way of it...
Warmer weather kicking in this week...let the machines buzz and whir this afternoon!
Carpe diem, y'all!
What takes longer stretches of uninterrupted time is the very beginning of it all...the selection of wood, preparation of the blanks, proper cutting and planing before routing, after careful measurements and markings...and those steps require the bigger, heavier equipment and lots of focused attention. It's the type of staging that you rarely go through for just one flute if you are busy, which I've been of late...so I decided to do one of my big batches to use time and machines more efficiently.
These pictures are only about 80% of the ones at this stage, with another 10-12 in the glue-up assembly line. (FYI, From this hexagonal stage I next create the sound hole mechanism and then drop the finger holes in place - and, no, it's not that simple!) Pictured below are two hybrid Half-Pipes in the mid F to G range under the clamps...and not that you can tell, but left is Sassafras and right is some beautiful golden Mahogany. I wish I could capture the smell of Sassafras when you cut or sand it...intoxicatingly sweet, it is.
This batch of ~55 'flubies' will potentially have keys ranging from my rare specialty ultra-high A Half-Pipes down a hair over two octaves to bass G. There's a good mix of round-bore and half-pipe designs to meet various budgets, though the half-pipe design is limited to nothing lower than mid F, maybe mid E. Part of the purposeful design of batching flutes this way is it give the wood time to 'cure' into its new form, allowing the grain to settle, which is helpful for tuning purposes.Will all of these make it to Flutedom? No. There will always be a few (very few) of those flutes that just won't play right or well no matter what you do...and though noisome to me, I understand they can teach me something new if I spend enough time with them. The rarest of the rare trouble-makers visit the fireplace.
For the sake of testing my memory, the woods scattered in the pictures are Ambrosia Maple, Aspen, Poplar, Black Limba, Cocobolo, Purpleheart, Bloodwood, Sapele, Western Cedar, Eastern Cedar, Ipe, Massarunduba, Papua New Guinea Walnut, American Cherry, Brazilian Cherry, Mahogany, Sassafras, Wenge, Curly Maple, Pecan, and old-growth Great Fir. The pink ones in the upper left corner are two ultra high A plastic flutes made from pink and black #17 Bates knitting needles from a craft store...play great,too! Once I get caught up orders and get a few more stock up, I have a heap more other woods I want to bring to life. Ah, so many flutes to dream about making, and so many weather forecasts to get in the way of it... Warmer weather kicking in this week...let the machines buzz and whir this afternoon!
Carpe diem, y'all!
1 comment:
Lila anpetu waste Lecela Wanji!
Ooak,
How are you my friend?
I miss your smiling face and your beautiful flute music.
and Mercy.
I'm happy to have a chance to visit your Bob blog!
Hugs and a smile across the miles.
Second Mouse
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