A question for flute makers...

Irish Flute
1

How do you turn a flute leaving the key blocks on?

Just wondering for interest. :smiley:

2

Not a flute maker, but a person that has mad things on a lathe.

Files, chisels, sandpaper, and an artistic eye.

But my stuff looked like crap. Maybe they have a magical device. (I hope)

EDIT: Made, not MAD.

3

To add to what ID said, the blocks are left on as complete rings around the flute body. Then using the tools cited, the parts of those rings that wonā€™t become blocks are removed. Again, Iā€™m not a maker, but Iā€™ve seen what they do.

4

I have always wondered about that also.

5

What? Nobody said ā€œVery carefullyā€?

Roger

6

I think most of the flutemakers will use a milling machine to remove the excess material around the block. This the next tool on my wish listā€¦ :smiley:

7

Pretty much as Chas said. But as Jon C chipped in while I was composing this response, using hand tools to remove the bulk of the excess wood is not easy - itā€™s hard to be sure which way the grain is going as you rotate the piece, and so not hard to dig in too deep. I (and I imagine most makers) use a mill to remove the most of the excess safely, and to cut the slot neatly through the block. Thereā€™s still plenty of hand tool work to finish it up!

We perhaps romantically imagine the 19th century flute makers using only the simplest of treadle lathes, relying upon great skill, patience and animal cunning to produce enough flutes to sustain their simple life-styles. But as you might have seen on 19th c Hammyā€™s treadle lathe, the cross slide (as fitted to metal-turning lathes, not normally wood lathes) was in common use by then, as was the ā€œoverheadā€ - a neato milling attachment for lathes. And in a city boasting a hundred or more flutemakers at any time, competition for work would have been too high to waste time on unproductive processes.

We may never know how they removed the excess wood around the blocks, as any remaining evidence is destroyed in the finishing process. But it is possible to see how they did the slots - it appears to have been done with a guided scraping tool, as many flutes show the same scratch marks at the bottom of all the blocks. Indeed, on some you find the maker dug a little deep, and the scratch marks run neatly all the way from the hinge block of the Long F to its guide block. You wouldnā€™t do that with a hand held tool. Given the availability of the ā€œslideā€, I think it is reasonable to assume the scraping tool was held in the slide and guided by it.

Terry

8

Thank you for your answers.

Iā€™m really impressed that itā€™s done by hand, i was thinking there was some sort of interesting machine to do it.

9

Roger! I love ya, man, but PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASEā€¦

NO CLOWNS!!!!


aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

M

10

This is how my setup looks using a Taig benchtop milling machine and a Sherline rotary table. The piece is a lower body section, and you can see the slots cut for the long F key. The long F support block is mostly finished, and I am starting to remove the excess on for the long F pivot block. The hose clamp on the bottom is to discourage splitting of the tenon.

Dave Copley
Loveland, Ohio

11

What, no cup centers around the shop :poke: :laughing:


Loren

12

Hi Dave,
How long is the table on your Mill? Is it long enough for a Pratten body?
I was looking at the Sherline mill, but maybe a Taig would be the way to go. Want one for Christmasā€¦ :puppyeyes:

13

Jon,
I bought the longer version of the Taig mill - the table is 18.5". If I remember rightly, the Sherline did not have a long enough table, which was why I went for the Taig. You can just fit a Pratten body between the rotary table and tailstock.

Dave Copley
Loveland, Ohio

14

Thanks Dave I will look that up. And droolā€¦

15

Aha! So there is a machine. :smiley:

16

There has to be ā€“ what else can we rage against?

Sorry, I couldnā€™t resist.