KEY QUESTION ???

Irish Flute
1

I recently acquired a very handsome 7 key Blackwood flute made by Geoff Wooff. It is a very well made instrument, and after hearing about Geoff’s reputation as a Master Pipe Maker, I thought I’d make this flute mine. Unfortunately, this flute for one reason or another had become neglected over the years and needed some T.L.C. After; making the necessary head repairs, re - padding, replacing dried out tenon thread, oiling the wood and cleaning the keys and ferrules, things are looking and sounding a whole lot better. Pleased with my new find I decided to PM Geoff to see if he could shed any light on the history, if he could remember, of this flute. What followed was an edifying and enlightening ( on my behalf ) series of messages from the good man containing heaps of useful information regarding his flute making process around the time of making this instrument. Many Thanks Again Geoff should you read this. :thumbsup:

Forgive the preamble. I’ll try and get to the point. During the course of this interesting exchange, we discussed the metals used for key construction, and in particular Nickel Silver as Geoff mentioned that he had used it for this flute. The reason I brought the topic up with him was because even though the flute had shown all the classic signs of not being properly maintained when it arrived, the keys and ferrules looked remarkably clean and shiny. Most if not all the Nickel Silver keys I have cleaned and polished to date have been at least 150 years old with that yellowed tinge. So seeing the excellent appearance of this alloy on a relatively recently made set of keys and ferrules, it had me curious??? And as a result… :confused:

I would like to know what other members think about the choice of materials used for key construction - Silver and Nickel Silver ?
Which you prefer and what properties of the metal/alloy led you to that conclusion ?
And finally reasons why you think that most ( though not all ) of today’s makers use Silver ?

TWO TOOTS.

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TWO TOOTS said; " reasons why you think that most ( though not all ) of today’s makers use Silver "

Silver is probably used by modern makers today because it is a relatively easy metal to work with. Historically, Nickel Silver was the cheaper alternative to silver fittings, but I think I remember reading somewhere that it is quite a hard alloy to work with. The vast majority of today’s wooden flute makers are nearly all single person operations, so considering this, it would probably be more convenient and cost effective for a modern maker to use Silver than Nickel Silver. In the 19th Century however, keys would have been made in a cottage industry scale of manufacture with numerous operatives, so working with Nickel Silver would have been more easily facilitated and much less daunting than attempting to work with Nickel Silver as a lone individual.
Furthermore, I have seen a couple of restored antiques where replacement keys have been made out of Silver, even though the original hardware is Nickel Silver. This could potentially bolster the theory that Nickel Silver is harder to work with for the lone craftsman.

Also, Silver is much less prohibitive in cost than it was when eight key flute manufacture in London was in full swing, so between this and the additional labour involved with working with Nickel Silver, the maker (and the customer) would not be making a saving on a modern instrument with Nickel Silver hardware, therefore silver is the standard metal of choice.