When youre making your own

IrelandsRose · Post by **IrelandsRose** » Fri May 19, 2006 4:32 pm

When making your own whistle, particularly out of wood, what is the best wood to use? What is a safe glaze or paint for it? Can you stain it like you do a hardwood floor and then seal it? I am toying with this idea of making me own whistle and I want to know what is safe to use.

On a side note it's nice to be back I've been gone a LOOOOONG time.
Don't know if anyone remembers me but I sure have missed you all.

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Fri May 19, 2006 5:44 pm

I just made one of eastern red cedar. I cut it locally in 2002 sealed the ends and left it in the attic to dry. I am not sure yet but I don't think cedar will need to be oiled or maybe not as much as some other hard woods. I am not planing to stain or seaL it.

dDave · Post by **dDave** » Fri May 19, 2006 7:32 pm

Howdy,

If you take a look at makers such as Busman Whistles, you'll see that whistles are being made from a vast varienty of woods. Most have their own particular look and playing qualities. I'm not sure there is a "best' wood, but most makers prefer hardwoods such as blackwood.

Most of the hardwoods are sealed with a non-toxic oil. Personally, I would be hesitant to put stained wood in my mouth, but that is easy to solve depending on how you make the fipple/mounthpiece.

Best,

Dave

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Sat May 20, 2006 6:05 am

The best woods I've found are very hard and dense, with a smooth, even grain. Olivewood, Blackwood, Cocobolo, Mopane are good examples although I've used many others. I've also used softer woods like Bermuda Cedar and in those cases I've used hardening oils such as Tung Oil to seal the bore and make it less porous. This worked very nicely.
Making a relatively thin walled whistle tube is sort of a tricky process, so get yourself some cheap wood to practice on: maple is relatively cheap and hard.

As far as finish goes, I use a lacquer based "friction polish" which gets applied while the sanded wood tube spins on the lathe. There are several of these on the market, also sometimes called "French Polish". True French Polish is shellac based, and I think the lacquer is somewhat longer lasting. Perfectly safe once it's dry, although on my particular design none of it is on the mouthpiece, so that's not a concern.

Jason Paul · Post by **Jason Paul** » Sat May 20, 2006 6:25 am

I'm not sure if there's really much difference between the treatment of a Native American Flute and a wooden whistle, but I would think that wood is wood (provided it's the same kind of wood).

I recently made a Native American flute out of eastern red cedar. There were a few different oils and such suggested for treatment.

I went for the simplest and cheapest method mentioned, and I'm happy with the results. I used wooden salad bowl finish:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=752

It's obviously for salad bowls, so is non-toxic of course.

The suggested application method is to build a tube of PVC and completely submerge the flute. I didn't want to do that, so I just applied a few coats. I filled each chamber separately, each time letting the oil soak in for 30 minutes to an hour. I then coated the outside, let it sit overnight, and repeated a time or two - each time letting it dry overnight.

A high whistle is much smaller than my 24" flute, so building the PVC tube would be more doable. So you could just submerge the whistle for a few hours, possibly overnight and hang it to dry.

This completely changed the look of the wood for one thing. It really brought out the darkness and the reds in the wood, separating the colors. Also, it gave it a bit of a shiny look - but not overly so like shellac.

Here's a link to a few photos:

http://community.webshots.com/album/451923825aNoKWm

First photo is in the bottom row in the center, and there are a couple more photos on page two.

It is important to oil the flute because it protects it from the moisture from playing. Even though cedar is rot-resistant, it's still not good for moisture to be able to just sit in it. I would assume the case would be the same for any other wood. I would also think that this would apply to wooden whistles.

For whistles, a hard wood is probably used more often because the harder wood makes the tone more bright and solid. Softwoods such as cedar make a more hollow, mellow sound. Although I'm sure a well-made whistle made of cedar would still sound nice.

And again keep in mind - the information above is from my experience making a Native American flute. I've never made a whistle.

Hope that helps.

Jason

King Friday · Post by **King Friday** » Sat May 20, 2006 8:44 am

I've been very impressed by the whistles people on this site have made and I think I want to try making my own. Does anyone have good directions for building one?

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Sat May 20, 2006 8:47 am

Jason that is a nice looking NA flute. Is the salad bowl treatment a one time step? Or should there be some maintence steps for eastern red cedar. What other treatments did they say to use?

dDave · Post by **dDave** » Sat May 20, 2006 2:29 pm

Howdy,

This link will get you started.

http://www.dougsparling.com/irishmusic/ ... istlemake/

And careful searches on this board will also render up a wealth of info.

Best,

Dave

Jason Paul · Post by **Jason Paul** » Sat May 20, 2006 4:17 pm

Thanks Tommy.

I was able to take a two-day class.

My wife must have "put away" my notebook with my class notes, and she's out of town. What the teacher recommended was expensive. I think it was from Germany and was going to cost a minimum of $30-$40 or something - too much unless you're planning on making several.

What I seem to see recommended most are tung oil, shellac, and the salad bowl finish. Salad bowl finish just seemed to be the cheapest and easiest, but still gave good results. I've read lots of complaints about the smell and taste of tung oil.

I went into the class with absolutely zero woodworking experience. And my current experience level doesn't extend beyond the making of a flute.

So, I don't really know the process of using other suggested oils and finishes.

As for the salad bowl finish; I got the impression that I might need to put on another coat once in a while, but not very often at all. I'm thinking the current finish will be good for at least several months to a year or more. Of course, I'm sure it depends on things like time spent playing it, or exposure to the sun, etc.

Applying it was pretty easy, but a little messy the way I did it. I basically just put the finish on a paper towel and wiped it all over the flute, let it hang to dry overnight, and repeated that process 2-3 more times. In the bore and slow air chamber, I filled them with oil (separately of course), and just let it sit and soak for about an hour.

I get the impression that you can't really put too much of this stuff on.

For more information on making the flutes, and some discussion about finishes for them, you can visit the builders groups:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/basic_naf_making/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nativeflutewoodworking/

Jason

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Sat May 20, 2006 5:38 pm

Thanks for the info Jason. I was thinking about staining it with coffee and then seal it with olive oil. There is a wood craft store with in driving distance so I will get salad bowl oil. I have more eastern red cedar and plan to make a few more.

Jason Paul · Post by **Jason Paul** » Sat May 20, 2006 7:41 pm

I believe I was told by another woodworking friend (a very good one) not to use olive oil for a wooden cutting board because it would putrify. I'm sure that would apply here as well.

I may be wrong about that, but I think I'm remembering correctly.

Jason

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Sat May 20, 2006 7:50 pm

Jason Paul wrote:I believe I was told by another woodworking friend (a very good one) not to use olive oil for a wooden cutting board because it would putrify. I'm sure that would apply here as well.

I may be wrong about that, but I think I'm remembering correctly.

Jason

Maybe putrify faster on top of coffe. Well I will drop that idea.

IrelandsRose · Post by **IrelandsRose** » Sun May 21, 2006 9:39 am

Thanks for all the awesome info guys!! I will use the salad bowl oil, or if I'm going to make a 2 piece with the mouthpiece being metal I can stain the lower piece that is wood and it should be safe. Can't wait to get started, it's going to be so much easier with all the info here. Wish me Luck!!

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Sun May 21, 2006 2:04 pm

IrelandsRose wrote:Thanks for all the awesome info guys!! I will use the salad bowl oil, or if I'm going to make a 2 piece with the mouthpiece being metal I can stain the lower piece that is wood and it should be safe. Can't wait to get started, it's going to be so much easier with all the info here. Wish me Luck!!

Good luck and enjoy making it. Do you know what kind of wood your going to use yet?