My main making activity continues to be working on block
flutes, or to use a more expansive term, all things
involving a fipple -- a category which includes whistles
and ocarinas. I love it as a hobby. On a nice day, most any
operation can be done outside, and then when I am done, the
finished product takes up very little space.
On our property, two trees have died. The peach tree of
natural causes, but the plum was growing into our sewer
lines, so that forced upon me an act of murder. I plan on
making at the very least some whistles out of them, if not
some full-sized flutes, but first I must let the wood dry
out on its own ina somewhat protected environment. This will
be my first experiment in seasoning wood.
Also, I feel some pressure to get it right when the day
comes to make my fipple instruments out of those branches,
so the day I labled the branches and put them away, I also
had a renewed burst in fipple activity, making in the same
day my first wooden whistle out of some left over dowel and
using a longish plastic pipe to make my first flute in the
in what is called the Native American Style, which means
that after you blow in it, the air gathers in a chamber,
which then moves to hit the plane which allows for the
sound. It is hope that it might be a more reliable method.
In any case, I will let the branches season for a year, and
I may very well stay in practice the entire year.
Update (12/2023): I certainly did not stay in practice all
year, but I am very interested in renewing the hobby in the
new year and trying out those wood pieces in April.
--
This work is hereby in the public domain.
Do what you want with it.
