I went out to Lowes today with my brother so he could buy some supplies to install a new mailbox. Of course, I had to go browse the plumbing isles! Hah hah hah! I found this little piece of pipe for only $2. It is called a 1/2" X 12" repair coupler–just about the right size for a high D whistle! This piece of tubing is supposed to be able to slip over standard 1/2" pipe, so the internal diameter (bore) slightly bigger than regular 1/2" pipe. No worries here. I’m just going to put in .625 in TWCalc and let it rip! I already have the thing choped to length and I’m dead on the money in tune with it. I’m waiting for my cordless drill to charge up so I can put some holes in it! Heh heh heh! I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Yeah I can’t help it. I size up everything I see now for its whistle making potential. I have some old seamless aluminum tubing off of a junk TV antenna that I have been eyeing. I tucked it back years ago with intentions of making homemade blow-guns! Hah hah hah!
Nice touch leaving the UPC sticker on.
Yeah, I’m going to steel wool the whole thing with a SOS pad before I’m finished. Man, SOS pads shine up copper like magic. Hopefully it’ll get that freaking sticker off!
Here she is all drilled out and in tune. I just need to give her a good deburring and a shine all over. I really boogered up the area beside the 4th hole when my drill slipped! ARG! I’m going to run out to Wal-Mart tonight and get me some extra fine sand paper (like maybe 400 or 600 grit) and try to get that out. Then I’ll give her a good steel wooling all over. She sounds really pretty–like some commercial whistles I’ve heard. Oh yeah, I don’t like the way her 3rd and 4th holes came out so close. I wish I would have noticed that ahead of time and I would have made the 4th hole a little larger and farther down the bore. It isn’t a problem though–as they are not so close that it interferes with my fingers. Oh well, I think she has some character!
Wow! You really banged a nice square shape out of that round coupler!
What did you use as a fipple block? It’s a bit hard to tell on my screen…
And what’s the width of the windway? At first I thought it looked tiny relative
to the whistle’s width, but I think that might be an illusion caused by the
curve of the window (which looks nice, BTW).
Wow! You really banged a nice square shape out of that round coupler!
I pounded the end square with a claw hammer on the floor of my deck. I just eyeballed it. I guess I did get it pretty square.
What did you use as a fipple block?
The flipple block is made from a piece of whittled out pine wood. To be exact, it was a piece that I split off a 2 X 4. I first started with a piece of hardwood dowl, but that was too hard to carve with my pocket knife.
And what’s the width of the windway? At first I thought it looked tiny relative to the whistle’s width, but I think that might be an illusion caused by the curve of the window (which looks nice, BTW).
The window measures about 1/4" X 5/16". I made it by drilling strait down into the squared off top of the whistle about 3/4" from the end. I used a 3/16th bit. Once I drilled through, I rocked the bit side-to-side to spread out the hole. It made an oval shaped hole. Then I filed the lip and made it flat so the whole window looked like it was in the shape of a ‘D’. I also put about a 45 degree bevel on the lip. Last of all, I bent it down slightly (maybe 1/16th") by tapping on it with a hammer and a small piece of dowel (used like a hammer & chisel).
I wish I would have made step-by-step photographs.
Well, I am very modest about my whistling abilities. I’m pretty much a rank amateur. In the interest of showing off my whistle which I am proud of (as opposed to my crummy noobish whistling skills) I’ll give you a couple of bars of ‘Down by the Sally Gardens’ on this little copper whistle. Try not to laugh at me ok!
Here is my standard disclaimer: I realize that I’m not a master whistle builder nor a fantastic whistler. I’m just a guy who has wonderful fun trying at both.
! ONo really though thats a nice job!
