All looks very promising. Not sure what you are using for your stabilizing process, but I have heard good reports regarding home impregnation using “Cactus Juice Resin”. You can review it here: https://www.turntex.com/
Cactus Juice is actually what I am using. Works really, really well.
I have mentioned it in an older thread, but for those of you who have not seen it I wrote a blog about doing vacuum resin infusion. http://ellisflutes.com/blog/vacuum-resin-infusion-part-1
There is one thing that I wrote in the blog that is technically true but in practice I would not attempt again. I said that soft woods like Curly Redwood could be used to make an Irish flute. This is true because the density and workability is enhanced by the resin, but it does very little to strengthen what is actually a very brittle wood. A resin infused piece of hard maple is tough as nails. If you drop a resin infused curly redwood flute the chances are excellent that it will simply break in half! Not good.
I’m very excited to share that these flutes are now being featured at the Irish Flute Store! In fact, the entire Irish Flute Store just got a complete makeover and is better than ever. Really clean and easy to navigate.
Blayne did a really nice video review of my new flute design which you can see here: https://www.irishflutestore.com/collections/featured-flutes/products/the-ellis-irish-flute
Disagree. Text is grey, so harder to read. RSS feed is gone, so no alert to new items unless they send an email.
In fairness to Blayne, I can’t say whether or not the remodel is totally complete, especially as regards the RSS feed (in fact, I hadn’t realized that he had one in the first place). It only just went public in this form and I would not be surprised to find that he still intends to tinker (speaking as someone with an evolving website, this happens often). Personally I didn’t notice that the text was grey. I like the clean navigation a lot because I’ve had to work over the years to implement that on my own site (and I still have not succeeded to my satisfaction). A few years back I had a really slick looking site but it was like going into a maze…
Feed for all products: www.irishflutestore.com/collections/all.atom
You can also get the collection specific feeds by appending .atom to the url in question. Such as:
https://www.irishflutestore.com/collections/irish-flutes/Condition:-Previously-Owned
The feed address would be:
https://www.irishflutestore.com/collections/irish-flutes/Condition:-Previously-Owned.atom
Product description text darkened.
Hope that helps!
Thanks, Blayne. The text is better, now. If I use Firefox Reader View, it’s even printable (although without the pictures). I’ll give the feed a try. Yep, all fixed, back the way I like it. Now all you’re missing is giving away Wooden Flute Obsession CDs with every flute purchase.
Hahahah. Now THAT would be cool! 
Great looking flutes! I like the idea of alternative woods.
Thanks! Yes, in the face of the big changes happening as a result of the CITIES regulations, developing alternative materials has a strong attraction. The resin-stabilized maple has the natural beauty of wood, it feels like wood and yet has many other attractive qualities such as being non-shrinking, waterproof and highly resistant to other environmental factors. Plus, it has the dye in the resin itself, so that wood is actually brown at a cellular level, not just on the surface!
That’s cool, thanks for the details. And I’ve always liked lighter colored woods for flutes and pipes.
looks great !!! maybe a cap for the slide just to protect it?
i love the color of the stained maple. nice embouchure shape too.
e.
Thanks! Even though it features some more modern innovations I really wanted it to have a classic look to it. And the maple turned out even more handsome than I expected.
Not a bad idea about the cap. It’s true that the tenon is exposed when the flute is disassembled and it would not be difficult to provide a protective cap made from Delrin.
Looks great!
I have a one key flute that is made from Maple, it is not stamped but probably 1840’s from USA. The interesting thing is the maple retained it’s shape all these years, perfectly round bore, and fairly good shape still. I think the maple was sealed with shellac back then, but amazingly light.
Shellac is great stuff! And some type of sealer is all that maple needs to become a great flute, but it definitely needs something. I’ve mixed my own shellac in the past and I’m tempted to experiment with it again. I’ve wondered what a French polish would like like on a flute, but it’s a big labor commitment to find out.
French Polish had its day in the 1880’s an 90’s with ‘American’ dealer flutes. I have had several pass through my hands, and had to make small repairs to their finish. They were of the post-mounted variety, and I would guess that the surface was applied while spinning on the lathe prior to setting the pillars as a labor saving technique. These were either Cocus or Kingwood or Brazilian Rosewood, so had extremely fine surfaces. I would imagine maple would be a lot mor laborious.
Bob
That was my impression. I read an article about using the technique on furniture and it takes a LOT of elbow grease. Spinning something on the lathe does spare one the burden of having to rub and polish by hand, but it also only goes in one direction, whereas French polish seems to require a lot of random movement in many directions. However, since the article I read was about finishing larger furniture it might be that the exact same technique is not necessary. Only one way to find out 
I also imagine that it would be much easier to do on a keyless flute without having to contend with posts.