…as that elder-wood whistle in the other thread…I got this cute little box, it’s made out of juniper-wood, it smells really great. Anyone know of any juniper-wood whistles ? Or for that matter any other nice-smelling-wood whistles ?
I wouldn’t recommend the Natalie variety. It doesn’t float too well and I don’t think it’d smell very good nowadays either… 
might be able to use her femur, or humerus…
Swiss-dood… check this out:
I was sort of apprehensive opening this thread. You just never know when Amar is mentioning something about getting wood!!!
African Olivewood smells terrific when you work it, and the aroma lasts quite a long time in the finished whistle.
I have a recorder made of Palisander which still smells good after about 35 years.
eh…? I guess I don’t know that expression, getting wood, does that exist, does it mean something else? i really don’t know! 
Speaking of which, Paul, or anyone else: Do you have any use for a length of hemlock wood? We just cut a 37 year old tree out from next to our porch (I counted the rings, of course). I know it’s probably not useful, but I’ll bring it to the gathering if anyone wants to use it for something.
Robin
Hemlock is probably a bit soft for whistles, but if it has no cracks and is long enough, I have a friend who might like it for Native American flutes.
I don’t think it has any cracks, but I’ll check. How long/wide should it be for a NA flute? The whole tree was about 7 feet tall, and the trunk at the bottom was about 8-9 inches across, upon rough guesstimate. It was healthy and wooly adelgid-free, just too close to the porch.
Robin
I would want to do some serious reseach as to the advisability of using hemlock for a whistle or flute - is it only the leaves and berries that are poisonous?
The hemlock tree’s toxicity, if any, is more along the lines of cedar, etc.: a potential allergen, as I recall. The hemlock of Socrates’ demise was the juice from one of two plants, Poison Hemlock or Water Hemlock. Both plants and tree happen to share the name.
That is what I found as well… seems the tree may have been named so by Europeans who found its fragrance similar to the biennial plant back home. No indication of any toxicity to the tree.
What about lilac?
I seem to remember a while back that someone talked about making a whistle out of lilac.
I’ve got a huge lilac behind my house, that is probably everybit of 100yrs old. (this is the “homeplace”- many generations of my husband’s family has lived here)It’s branches might be thick enough for a whistle.
[quote="spittin_in_the_wind How long/wide should it be for a NA flute? Robin[/quote]
About two feet long for a safety margin. Eric can cut the width himself. This is how I met Eric BTW-- we had to take down a cedar at our house. I had the workmen save about 6 feet of it because I hated to trash the piece of wood. Soon after, there was a news article about Eric-- his instrument making and the fact that he liked to make flutes for people out of wood that had personal significance for them. I gave him a call and we arranged to have him make a flute for me out of my cedar. Actually, we both made it: he roughed out the flute, routed the bore, and I did the outside shaping. Became a good friendship.
Tell you what: here is Eric’s website: http://geocities.com/whistleworld/
His flutes are beautiful and reasonably priced.
Take a look and contact him to tell him about the wood you have. If he wants it, I’ll be happy to bring it to him.