I have moved my post frae the EBay thread thus…
John Burke shewed me a wee while back a piece of warped boxwood.He put it in a vice and gently straightened it oot wi a hot air hair dryer.Has anyone else tried this?
Any thoughts??
Uilliam
I’ve done this with other woods. I don’t know that I’d do it with boxwood though… I’ve actually used the steaming method to straighten out some VERY warped and unplayable regs in a rebuild I once did.
When John did it he didnae seem at all bothered by it ,popped it in the vice heated for a few moments and straightened it with his hands.He seemed quite pleased to be shewing me this and I guess this was innovative on his part…no idea.
Just for curiosity if ye did it for other woods why wouldnae ye do it for Box?
Uilliam
did that heattreatment made permanent issue with boxw.?
I have no idea,I was just passing through so to speak and he shewed me it.I suppose if it where to rewarp back then there would be no point in doing it in the 1st place but I honestly don’t know.
uilliam
I’d be curious to hear what other pipemakers think about this. I have an old Ó Bríain boxwood chanter that is hellaciously warped (see the pics thread–one person described it as looking like it had scoliosis; Maurice Reviol nicknamed it “the banana”). When the weather is more humid, it seems marginally less warped…Leaving it in very moist conditions causes it to revert to nearly straight appearance, but I wouldn’t do this for fear of mold getting into the wood. It plays great, although now that I have a Galloway chanter, I don’t play it much anymore. I had more or less resigned myself to leaving it be in it’s contorted shape, but if someone were to figure out some magic way of unbending boxwood, I’d be interested in hearing more about it.
Pieces of wood, like people, will find their comfort zone. Force them, impose on them, do what you will, and they will return to it, unless they are imprisoned in an unnatural or constrained environment, where they aren’t really happy. Eventually, under such unhappy circumstances, they will invariably protest.
Very romantically put but hardly scientific is it.To compare Boxwood to People is quite frankly an insult to Boxwood.I am only reporting whit I saw with my own eyes and lo it was straightened.There must be chemical or scientific answers to this one and not talk of prisons et al 
Uilliam
I guess the science of organic matter is that no two specimens are identical, thus, the science of roasting instruments into submission might work for one chanter, and not another. In any case, I prefer fresh veggies to cooked ones, and approached making boxwood pipes as an art form, not a science, so I’ll leave the subject to the chemists among you to discuss the required BTU’s for cellular breakdown, the various wattages of hair styling devices, etc.
In traditional kayak building the ribs of the boat are steamed and then bent in place. One person I saw do this used a coffee can with a hole in it attached to the top of an electric kettle. I don’t know how well these hold their shape after they’ve been bent as they are lashed into the frame.
Isn’t there a method using ammonia or something that turns the lignin in wood temporarily to jelly? Wait, let’s use this internet thing…
OK, I found this which mentions some methods of wood bending.
http://www.tai-workshop.com/english/tech-2(b)-e.html
But to actually answer your question Uillliam, I have never seen a piper maker do this.
Uillman whether ye like it or not the making of pipes IS a science.I would prefer it if 'n ye stuck to the script of the thread which was asking…
Has anyone else tried this?
Not asking for everyone who hasn’t tried it ,to chime in with their horror stories of torture to Boxwood or their preference for vegetables.
For the sake of clarity in this Has anyone else tried this?
Misterpatricks ref: was an interesting start thanks.
Uilliam
I haven’t tried it but I don’t see why not. The hardwood sides of guitars etc are bent like bejaysus and they don’t try to straighten out (much). This process involves water, heat and then holding them in shape until they “set”.
I’m not sure I’d want to do it to anything unless it was badly warped and possibly on the way to the fire, but if so then let’s give it a go, cheers for the heads up on it.
Alternatively play in front of a curved mirror.
Sounds more like a cricketers problem 
John
I know I speak for each and every forum member in extending the most heartfelt condolences to one of our most distinguished contributors, who suffered a devastating fit of thread possessiveness at the hands of an unscrupulous and diabolical hijacker. It is hoped that after his lengthy convalescence in Cucamonga, he will share with one and all, the scientific communities’ empirical findings regarding the definitive and most undisputed dimensions for a perfected concert pitch chanter and reed, as well as the source for the ideal timber, and the proper cooking time and temperature.
No seriously, now. I was out of line.
My most sincere apologies to Ye, whoe’re Ye are.
As an afterthought, maybe it is science. Not Art. Not craft. Maybe science, mixed with… wait… here it is…
Magick!!!
Yes, Dumblebore, that’s it! Magick!!!
(Moderators, feel free to cut me off after 12 or 13 bottles!!! Hurry…)
Quick… pull the … plu…g …
Oh, the humanity…
I’m melllllting…
Mr.Sulu, set a course for Erth…
Ugh…
Goodnight moon.
Where’s my…
BTW, I never tried it, yet it yielded magnificent, albeit, temporary, results.
Uillman I don’t know why ye had to take this so personally but may I remind ye of a post ye submitted but one month past 
December 2008
I was really just referring to the patterns, maybe not the process. I think it would be useful to know where and how the reed was vibrating for any given note, and how reedmaking might benefit from diagrams like these:
January 2009
In any case, I prefer fresh veggies to cooked ones, and approached making boxwood pipes as an art form, not a science, so I’ll leave the subject to the chemists among you…
So whit is it to be ?
One month ye are promoting the scientific qualities of harmonics albeit using a guitar as an example for UP reeds the following month ye are mocking me (in the cruelest manner 
) for asking a very simple question,and dissing the very idea that ye could lower yersel to making Boxwood chanters in a scientific way but are an Artist…
If’n ye are not confused then I certainly am 
Uilliam
But like both Boxwood and People, sometimes Threads don’t bend the way you want them to either. Especially when the actual, original question is “Any thoughts?” … with special attention to Any. 
So play nice … Have a pony! And a unicorn!
Yay! Free-for-all!
I have seen boxwood flutes that regularly change shape back and forth with changes in humidity. I can see how heat would affect the moisture content in the wood, but I wonder if this sort of treatment would, over time, weaken boxwood, i.e. might it eventually develop splits and checks? In Uilliam’s example, we don’t know if the boxwood in question was suitable for a chanter, and if so, how well did it perform, and how long did it stay in the desired shape?
Some of the other bending methods involve soaking or chemically treating wood. I don’t know how well boxwood would take to soaking. Isn’t it more of an oily wood? And again, I wonder what soaking and other methods would do to the density of the boxwood. Remember, it is the resonance due to relative density of a wood that makes it suitable (or not) for woodwinds such as our UP chanters.
I am told that boxwood is relatively hard to find in the sizes required to make a chanter. Who could afford enough of a supply to test all these different methods, considering the potential damage that would be inflicted on each piece? The proof in each case would have to be a resulting UP chanter to make the testing worthwhile, and even then, you would have to keep each of these chanters under scrutiny for at least a year to know how well they survive.
It’s a good thing Uilliam is so rich and can afford to fund such an investigation. 
djm
OK any thoughts on this was there so ma apologies to ya all and Uillman in particular 
Given the choice of ponies and unicorns I think Bill has my measure
So back to the topic I telephoned John and he has confirmed that he has indeed used both methods heat and steam and it was on hollow pieces and stayed in shape .“Cooking the sugars” was a term he used.He said that it was the cold that generally warped the wood so beware flight holds on planes and arctic conditions.Of course there is no guarantee that it will stay that way and he said that some people actually like the Box to be warped as it shews it to be truly Box. It can be done on other woods also.
Anyways here is his website if’n ye care to visit.
http://www.borderpipe.com/
Uilliam
PS
In traditional kayak building the ribs of the boat are steamed and then bent in place. One person I saw do this used a coffee can with a hole in it attached to the top of an electric kettle.
How traditional is the electric kettle?