Hello,
Can anyone tell me what to look for in terms of grain direction when choosing wood for turning into pipes. I heard that differences in angle can cause the pipe to be structurally weaker and easier to snap. Any ideas?
Thanks,
DavidG
I only know a little bit. The grain must be very tight and straight, of course, but viewed edge on, you should see the grain arches a bit. The top of the arch is the the finger hole side.
djm
well of course the grain should go straight in the lengthwise direction of the chanter 
Also, since most of the key blocks on the chanter are “lateral”, i.e on the sides, it’s customary to to orient the grain so that the edge grain is on the sides of the chanter instead of the front. If you were to make a chanter design that had most or all of the keys on the back instead of the sides, you might choose to turn this 90%… the idea being that you don’t want it to be easy to split a key block off. But there’s a cosmetic issue as well unless you’re using a really dark wood.
Well, my 2 cents…
So, begging the question…where should the edge grain show?
Frequently it’s a case of aesthetics. I generally place the edge grain on the sides, as the face grain tends to “show” more character and figuring in the wood..for example…in cocobolo. In some other woods, it is advantageous to show the edge grain on the face of the chanter as it is more attractive.
Lewis Blevins’ Q&K beehive set is a fine example of the latter:
http://www.uilleannobsession.com/photos/koehler&quinn/curlemon_full.jpg