Seems that these hard weather conditions here makes quite extreme wonders how my barireg behaves..never ever been sooo curved as now
so any good hints to straighten it …than waiting summertime to come ![]()
Please DO NOT attempt to straighten it by applying mechanical pressure, heat, or a combination of the two. I’ve seen boxwood shrunken, cracked, and splintered this way, by people who swore by various methods - I’m sure you’ll get all sorts of suggestions.
The best way, if you feel you must do ‘something’, is to gently humidify the piece and let it move on its own.
I would not touch it. I have a boxwood flute that is over 200 years old, and the only way it made it to that age was
no one attempted to unbend it. Boxwood is fairly brittle, especially if the humidity has changed. Think of the curve
as ‘character’. ![]()
The fella who used to be the curator of the Dayton Miller Flute Collection in the Smithsonian told me that when
they want to move any of the boxwood flutes in the cases, they simply left them alone and they would crawl
all by themselves.
Robert Mouland
www.wireharp.com
even curve / bending is character with this timber , but now when its going over bass reg of its end it makes both regs unplayable ,it’s not funny anymore.
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The way the winter has been where you are, it’s amazing the reeds are still working at all ![]()
I’ve seen a boxwood Egan set with regs that cross one another - and that’s in a fairly mild, humid climate! The keys still appear to work OK, but maybe it was just luck that there is enough clearance.
The more I work with boxwood, the more often I can predict (and avoid, if I reject material) misbehavior, so this is less of an issue recently… I haven’t had a chanter bore warp noticeably since well over a year and a half ago… whereas the first one I made, before I had any experience with the stuff, went like a banana! Still, of all the parts in a boxwood set the baritone reg is always the hardest to deal with, because it’s so much thinner than a chanter, and because of the sequence of operations when turning it.
(Keep the faith Mikko, I have a replacement baritone reg body here for you which awaits a gap in the schedule…)
If you’d like a nice curvy boxwood bari drone to go along with it, I can help.
thanks but no thanks..got allready one of my own
I’m so sorry. It is such a drag. I’ve heard of flutemaker Sam Murray variously referring to boxwood as a “son of a b***” and “the wood that’s hardest to convince it’s no longer a tree.” Someone at Pat Olwell’s shop once told me boxwood is so sensitive it’s the perfect hygrometer. For some reason I seem to be a boxwood magnet and keep ending up with all these boxwood things (3 flutes and a half-set so far), some straight, some not-so much. My beloved Murray boxwood flute is so warped I can it a “comical bore” flute.
Sure is a light and lovely wood, though … so I’m glad to hear there’s a new reg in your future. ![]()
Do pipemakers microwave or bake the moisture out of box like I’ve been hearing of some flutemakers doing lately?
if remember rigth borderpipemaker Hamish Moore use kinda microwave treatment with boxwood..but not know is this made for cut pieces before drillings etc or after?