I guess this is my chance to post a Hello to everyone. I have played at the Irish whistle and I am a Native American Flute Maker. I have lots to learn and really do enjoy the forum. Hope to make a Flute in May after I get Terry McGee’s Plans and the right size Gun Drill 
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Some pictures of me teaching NAF making in the shop –
Ever make a diatonic NAF? Nice workshop there. You have the tools to make flutes it looks like. Terry McGee is the right one to get plans from I would think.
Hello and Welcome.
Doug Tipples making plans may be useful too (for cylindrical bore flutes).
http://sites.google.com/site/dougsflutes/makingasimpleirishflute
Not enough woodwinds in life.
Hello David,
It is great to see you with young people teaching a love of music with an instrument made with their own hands. I can’t think of a better introduction.
Thank You for the Welcome.
I truly love to make musical instruments. I did not want to just create a bunch of wall ornaments so I have always looked for players. So my creations would have home in which they keep creating. Only this year have I felt my skills where up to passing along the joy of making your own flute. I has been very rewarding. The work to help a new generation not only feel they can make things themselves but love the craftsmanship of others is amazing.
I will keep on learning and sharing.
dgb
Good on you David. There is so much fun to be had, although expect to find it challenging!
I see you mentioned gun drills. Quite a few people have had success buying gun drills cheaply on Ebay. I haven’t been so smart. So if you’re not in a hurry, keep an eye out.
If you haven’t already, check out the flutemakers group at yahoogroups. You should find plenty of useful info in the archives.
Welcome aboard!
Terry
This forum/thread really is a breath of fresh air, too often when you speak to flute or other instrument makers its a case of hush hush - wink wink, what these professional makers are scared of & try so hard to guard is probably people cutting in on their business, a wee bit of Paranoia i suppose but most players who are interested in giving it a wee go simply want to do so as a hobby, not as a living, to think someone could just sit down and start turning out instruments that would match the likes of T. McGee & G. Ormiston etc is just unrealistic.
Most serious wooden flute players through time will often become interested in what they are playing, how it works & also how its made, people offering plans etc is surely a huge positive step towards preserving the musical culture & tradition of the wooden flute .
Ive always been interested in having a go at doing this (as a hobby) but where you gather a lot of information as you go there is so much that you’d still have to learn to make to a half decent standard on project you may take on.
Fair play to the professional makers who are willing to lend a hand & good luck to the OP .
That is really nice - lovely to see the delight on the girl’s face as her flute takes shape under her hands.
CrimsonTone wrote “too often when you speak to flute or other instrument makers its a case of hush hush - wink wink, what these professional makers are scared of & try so hard to guard is probably people cutting in on their business”
Actually this secrecy may be true amongst violin makers and their varnish theories but I have found that most wind instrument makers are quite willing to exchange ideas and share information, if they have the time. Colleagues usually like to share. I’ve only met a few who seemed like they needed to guard their trade secrets from me. I mostly avoid such people.
The biggest issue is time. Like everyone else we have bills to pay, kids in college, and are sometimes struggling to get by. Some might feel that we should be obliged to share our knowledge in the Freedom of Information Act sense and that such knowledge should be public property. I personally wish that I could teach a bunch. But unfortunately, its easier to survive making instruments and getting paid for them than spending time sharing our “trade secrets”. This seems to be true with any skilled craft such as blacksmithing, woodworking, etc. The individual artist has to eat, and usually doesn’t have the time to freely distribute advice. The wannabes including those who want to pursue some craft as a hobby frequently do not understand this.
The secrets of the Strad violins are right in front of everyones’ eyes, if one knows how to look. Its just that a mystique has been built and preserved around that instrument and by extension around most hand made instruments including flutes. The violin makers are still so caught up with this and their pet theories that they have ignored the simple evidence: that the Cremonese makers simply thinned the tables by compressing them from thicker pieces of wood, and bought their magical under-varnish at the local hardware store (which, amazingly, still makes the very same Amber-Linseed varnish to this day) the way we buy Polyurethane at Home Depot. There are no secret varnish recipes and they simply used what wood that was available.
The data on our flutes are there for posterity for anyone to examine and measure. Thus we have all of the secrets of Rudall, Hudson etc. on display not to mention our own instruments. There are no secrets.
The most important element that can’t be measured or taught is simply the practice and muscle memory that develops when doing this for any length of time. People who want to make things like flutes but haven’t yet usually do not understand this, and think that our skill comes from the secrets we hide. There is no substitute for Practice with anything musical, including making instruments. That is the secret!
Another factor is tooling. I frequently get asked “Where do you buy the reamers?” I don’t. These have to be made by oneself. Thus in addition to learning how to make flutes you have to learn how to make reamers. And other tools. I also get asked frequently if I take apprentices. Unfortunately I have only the one set of tools in my workshop and no room to set up another set of tools that the apprentice would have to provide for him/herself, not to mention the time. Teaching really slows down production and production is what feeds my family. The few times I have taught I’ve had to find something to work on during my prime working hours while my primary turning lathes were occupied. I can’t afford this!
As to cutting in on the business - new makers are always coming on-line and old makers are hanging up their reamers. The newer ones may be a bit more threatened by competition. There seems to be enough of a market. But not too much that some large offshore Asian producer will flood the market and undercut everyone, like they are able to do with guitars. Its too small of a market for that. Also, the Pakistani versions have given such offshore-derived flutes a sullied reputation.
As to resources, there are plenty out there. Articles in such journals as the Galpin Society Journal, FOMRHI, Early Music, YouTube videos and elsewhere. Have a look around.
Wink, wink, indeed!
Casey
Pleased to Meet you to Casey ! 
I Was talking about people ive came accross Casey & wasnt pointing Elbows at you or anyone else, how could i ? ive never asked you or anyone on this forum for advice before ? this was my personal experience my friend, but even at that you seemed to have agreed with me and disagreed with me in the one post, maybe the 1 or 2 you’ve met and prefer to ignore are the same ones as ive met & have no choice to ignore !! .
As i said the thread itself is a breath of fresh air because people are willing to help others keep the skill alive , thats a good thing thats all iam saying .
Seen your website C , nice stuff although i see you mainly specialise on keyless stuff, i prefer the keyed jobs myself but your stuff looks dam good as it is, good luck in your area & long may it continue to prosper for you .
I see nothing wrong with keeping some of my flute-making processes a little bit secret. After all, it took me years through trial and error to learn how to do things the way that I do now. I recently received an email from someone who wanted to make pvc flutes like I do. He asked me for a detailed description with photos of how I went about making flutes. I generally reply with helpful information and suggestions, but I don’t feel the need to show my whole hand. Not that I have that many cards of great worth, but I am a little possessive of the few that I do have. That being said, I do reveal quite a bit of information on my website that has helped people all over the world make very playable simple one-piece flutes from pvc pipe.
With regard to machining skills that you will need to make reamers, etc., Ralph Sweet gave me some good advice. He assumed that I would also be making flutes with conical bores, which I have never done. Anyway, he advised me to get to know a good machinist in my neighborhood who I could use to make the tools that I would need, and I gathered from our conversation that he also used the skills of a professional machinist, although I may be wrong about that assumption. So, I think that is one way you can get your foot in the door without needing to have advanced machining skills.
Actually, I do quite a few keyed flutes. I just mailed off 4 in this last week. And have 2 to do next month, and more in the months after.
Doug, I’ve heard Ralph’s suggestion before. This may be true 20-30 years ago. But I am seeing fewer and fewer machinists as we export all of our real work to overseas, and try to survive as a “service” economy. What few machinists around here have all either retired and sold their tools or passed away. Boeing just isn’t producing them quite like they used to. And manufacturing methods are going increasingly computerized for high production - which means that a one-off reamer maker is going to be a rare commodity unfortunately. I imagine its like this in the Rust Belt and elsewhere.
Big day for me sending flutes out into the world, including a new flute part for a fellow Chiffer whose flute got sat upon recently. Spent $480 at the Post Office! I’m now on vacation until the 2nd. I need it, having worked the last 3 weeks and weekends without a day off!
Casey