What do people think of the acoustical properties of ironwood, compared to
blackwood, say? I don’t know much about this.
Of course some folks
think it doesn’t matter what a flute is made of. I personally think
different woods tend to have a distinctive sound.
If we can possibly avoid the ‘do materials make an acoustic difference?’ debate this time,
anybody who has played ironwood flutes have some impressions?
You have to be more specific; ironwood is sort of slang for whatever local wood is especially hard…could be hop hornbeam in one place, something else somewhere else, or do you mean Cooktown ironwood? This is one of the most loosely defined terms in the world of wood.
Jim, if you mean Desert Ironwood from the American Southwest and northern Mexico (Sonoran desert climatic zone) - I have considerable experience making flutes with it. Frankly its one of the best woods I have used in terms of acoustic superiority. Flutes made from it seem to have the lively bounce of boxwood - but also the depth and strength of blackwood and mopane. But even more so for these qualities.
Finding clear pieces is another matter - which is why I do not regularly offer it. Although it comes from an extremely dry climate, it seems to have a propensity for cracking in the curing. How it is cured and stored is really important. I used to get this from a violin maker who stored it properly. This wood was very reliable. But then I bought some from a widow of an old wood carver, who preferred cedar, and store his ironwood in a garage that got too wet in the winter and too hot in the summer. I had real trouble with that wood.
With even good pieces, there is much cutting around imperfections and cracks. This wood eats bandsaw blades. Its one of the hardest woods on the planet and is heavier than blackwood - making it one of the densest. The scent of the dust has been likened to dirty gym socks. It turns reasonably well and takes a high polish. Some of the pieces collected from dead trees have possibly been around for thousands of years. I know of one piece that was radiocarbon dated at 14,000 bp.
Its been illegal to harvest any of this wood in the US for years. However, thanks to NAFTA, the Mexicans have made it available (its much less scarce south of the border) and the wood dealers can get it. I’ve tried some of this Mexican wood and its quite wonderful - and expensive.
Casey
Which one? There are a lot of different woods that get called Ironwood; it’s the term settlers applied to the hardest wood wherever they found themselves. In eastern North America, which is what I know, both blue beech and shagbark hickory got called ironwood.
Cooktown? Perhaps Skip Healy would know for sure.
Casey is referring to Olneya Tesota - beautiful stuff. And yes, ironwood a common name for many woods as are other simple descriptive names like leadwood, blackwood, rosewood, etc.
Here’s a (probably not exhaustive) list of ironwood species from Wiki…
Any particular wood that has a reputation for hardness. Usage of the name may (or may not) include the tree that yields this wood. Species involved include:
Acacia estrophiolata, Southern ironwood
Androstachys johnsonii, Lebombo ironwood
Carpinus caroliniana, American hornbeam
Casuarina equisetifolia, Common ironwood from Australia
Casuarinaceae (she-oaks) in general
Chionanthus foveolatus , Pock ironwood from South Africa
Choricarpia subargentea, Giant ironwood
Copaifera spp., Diesel Tree, Kerosene Tree, Kupa’y, Cabismo, or Copaúva
Diospyros blancoi, Mabolo, Velvet Apple, or Kamagong native to the Philippines
Erythrophleum chlorostachys, Cooktown ironwood from Australia.
Eusideroxylon zwageri, Borneo ironwood
Guaiacum officinale, Lignum vitae
Guaiacum sanctum, Holywood
Holodiscus discolor, Creambrush
Hopea odorata, White thingan, Ceylon or Malabar ironwood
Krugiodendron ferreum, Black Ironwood
Lyonothamnus floribundus, Lyon tree
Lyonothamnus lyonii, Catalina ironwood
Mesua ferrea, Rose chestnut or Ceylon ironwood or Nahar
Nestegis apetala, Coastal maire, Broad-leaved maire or Ironwood
Olea spp., Various olive trees
Olneya tesota, Desert ironwood
Ostrya virginiana, Hop hornbeam
Parrotia persica, Persian ironwood
Tabebuia serratifolia, Yellow poui
Xanthostemon verdugonianus, Philippine Ironwood or Mangkono, endemic of the Philippines
Feadoggie
Thanks. Interesting stuff from Casey, as always.
I wasn’t aware that there were all these kinds of ironwood.
I meant corktown ironwood. Sorry I wasn’t more specific.
Theres’ a flute listed on the board
made of it. Anybody know what it sounds like?
COOKTOWN
(North Queensland, Australia), not Corktown
see
http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/materials.htm
and
http://www.woodenflutemaker.com/Timber.html
I made a couple of Cookstown Ironwood flutes a couple of years ago. The wood has a coarser grain then Blackwood, so I would say the tone isn’t as bright.
Mark Hoza has been making flutes out of Cooktown Ironwood. http://www.woodenflutemaker.com/
I had one, and it sounded nice, but wasn’t what I was looking for at the time. The touch of it differs depending on how highly it is polished - the one I had was rather roughly textured.
Terry McGee has used it, also:
http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/materials.htm
Then there’s one by Skip Healy, on sale on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110509803449
You have to love the name, though. Ironwood, what could be more descriptive? I should say that I played a flute by Mark Hoza made from Cooktown Ironwood, and I thought that it was a beautiful flute with a good sound.
One of your ironwood flutes just surfaced at a jam session at the Folk School in St. Louis,
a Pratten played by a woman, a music prof at U of Missouri, Columbia. First one of
your flutes I’ve ever seen or heard. Nice work.
COOKTOWN!
You obviously didn’t read my succinct post above and I don’t think K Krell did either …
Yes I did. I included Mark Hoza’s link in my message because of my own personal experience with one of his flutes (which I sold off a few years ago), and the clear pictures. Also figured I might as well put the other links in my message (since you omitted any description of what the links were), because I knew no-one was going to read yours.
I have made several Penny Whistles from Cooktown Ironwood and found that it’s slightly harder and heavier than black ebony, has even texture with interlocking grain making it extremely durable and easy to work on the lathe. A very low moisture content making it an excellent choice for a flute… with a clear sweet tone.
http://www.theflutemaker.com/index.php?id=109
Cooktown Ironwood is a very dense timber from Northern Queensland in Australia. It is mostly used for rough applications such as fence posts and railway sleepers, being very resistant to rot. Now becoming quite popular as an alternative to blackwood, I believe I was the first to use it for flutemaking, in the mid to late 1970’s. Makes a very lively (responsive) flute.
I have found however that it is a difficult material to use for keyed flutes - the very open pores that I think are responsible for its lively performance are a liability when it comes to making airtight pad seats. We can inlay blackwood seats to overcome this, but expect to pay more!
http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/materials.htm
Terry likes it, but has a reservation.
http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/australian_deserts.html#australian_deserts_size
above is a map showing ozzie deserts.
Cape York Peninsula is NOT desert country but tropical rainforest and wet and dry woodland country.
Cooktown Ironwoood is predominantly extant in the North Australian tropics from Western Aus. across to North Qld.
here is where Cape York Peninsula is
http://www.australian-4x4.com.au/images/cape-york-peninsula.JPG
While I am at it, here is where Florida is
http://www.eachtown.com/Florida/