My interest in extremely aroused.
Hmmm…wooden Hoovers… 
–James
The Jig is up.
No, honest officer it’s jute, or sisal I cain’t merember which…
Honestly, just this morning I was remembering how we used to make pretty beads from catalog pages cut into strips and saturated with shellac and rolled into beads to string along with indian corn. I actually meditated on rolling a tube from such. It would be waterproof but not alcohol proof. The whole idea sort of melted away.
I did try redwood a few years ago, but feedback was scanty, so I suppose it wasn’t durable enough, even though they do make saunas, decks, and fence posts from it. At the time is seemed viable…
By the way folks have wondered about the avatar. That IS me taken in the early eighties. It fell out of a shoebox of old memorabilia.
Puleeeeeeeeez don’t keep us all waiting too long, Mack. The suspense is killiing uuuuuuuuuuuuh…
Maybe some form of Japanese fish sausage? Seemed to work pretty well for a Shakuhachi in one of the youtube clips posted elsewhere.
I think redwood might still be viable. The tube of the one you sent me is still in good shape. As I recall, you were still having a bit of trouble getting the wood to cooperate at the time (I think mine was something like the second or third redwood whistle you made), so there were tuning issues in the second octave, but the bottom octave was lovely.
Redwolf
Contact Mr. Burke for this request.
Mack, I have one of your redwood whistles as well. As a matter of fact it is the one on your web page. It has a small crack that was repaired. I basically do not perform any periodical maintenance and it is just like when I got it a couple of years ago from another board member that got it from Mack. The only issue is an odd Cnat fingering. I have been meaning to contact you regarding something about them but do not have the ability to follow through at this time so that will wait.
Yeah, really. The larger ones get quite woody once the flower dies back. My friend recommends waiting for a frost or two before harvesting them. If I get anything playable out of them, I’ll post here.