It’s reassuring to know that this was always the case. Looking through the boxwood flutes at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney a few years back I was struck by how many of them had very serious timber flaws - many so bad that I would never have considered using them. I guess they might have been sold cheaply as “seconds”. So it was no easier in the 19th century - Europe wasn’t covered in giant boxwood forests! Boxwood is a stunted little tree and hardly gets big enough to make a keyed flute out of. You can be lucky - I have a few chunks big enough for keyed Bb flutes - but you have to put up with some grumbling from the supplier when you ask for such things.
However, at the end of the day, how much less are you selling a Delrin flute than a Grenadilla flute, Terry
Heh heh, both the same price, at this time. I may decide to pull down the Delrin price after I’ve made a few more - there are certainly savings to be made in time not having to prepare wood. But it’s horrible stuff to work, so I’d need to be convinced I’m not saving on the merry-go-round but losing on the swings.
I’m certainly not competitive with the Delrin makers, but I’m not aiming to be - I’m aiming to make the best flute I can for a specific customer no matter what it takes, rather than making lots of flutes to a price to satisfy a big market. It’s lovely now that we can have this diversity in the marketplace!
The deed is done and it ended splendidly. I now have nicely finished holes on my Seery. In the end, I ordered some files and rifflers from eBay and slowly filed the edges and finished them with steel wool and 600 grit wetable sand paper. I also riffled and lightly filed the inner edges.
I’m particlulary surprised at how it seems to have made the flute more responsive. Cuts on A and B are noticably more crisp.
I’m very grateful to all who offered help, especially Terry, Doug and Jon. Although, I didn’t use a sharp blade, Terry’s advice helped me understand the angle I was shooting for.
Terry said
Boxwood is a stunted little tree and hardly gets big enough to make a keyed flute out of.
I have had a few trees 6 to 8 inches in diameter. They havn’t been uncommon.They do go blue very quickly ,though, if you don’t dry them quickly.
My mate had a great load of it just before his workshop fire !
I have this morning shown an unused Prowse flute to a visitor who commented on how sharp the holes are.
She tried many others without noticing.
Perhaps they were all sent out sharp.
Yes, 6 to 8 inches sounds good until you remember that they have to be split to survive seasoning. And the very centre is always flawed so it can’t be used. And the remaining 3 to 4 also includes the bark and irregularities on the surface. And then they convert the ragged half rounds into two or more squares, and you turn them round and drill a small hole up the middle and then the stuff goes oval and bends along its length (thank God it was a small hole!) and so you later follow up with a bigger hole and turn the outside round again and then you are ready to start making!
Conversion from the half-round into squares and then back into round is pretty silly, but importing logs into Australia gets you into hot water with quarantine. If there is any bark or sapwood (which is where bugs and their eggs might be hiding), it has to be treated with poisonous gas, held for 24 hours at high temperatures or bombarded with gamma rays. Not an easy choice!
I just shoved mine in the garage.
One tree came from a neighbour over the road.
After moving the odd tree the sensation in the muscles is of a few flutesworth !