Since I caught the whistle-making bug a few months ago, the longest and most unpleasant part of the process for me has been getting the dowel rod down to a size where it fits in the pipe. This isn’t a problem for high whistles, as 1/2" dowel rod fits nicely inside 1/2" cpvc. But for any other pipe/size, it requires thinning the dowel. I don’t have a lathe, so there goes the easiest method. Until recently I didn’t even have a power drill, so I couldn’t use the method I saw recommended here of drilling into the dowel and using the drill as a sort of lathe while holding sandpaper to the dowel. And sanding by hand is a royal pita, and I don’t mean the bread.
So I was discussing all this with my father, who is a blacksmith and collector of old hand tools. He said I should try a hollow auger. After explaining to me what a hollow auger is, he mentioned that he had a few lying around. So the next time he came to visit, he brought some.
Basically a hollow auger is an attachment - or a set of attachments - that you put on a brace. One attachment is a funnel-shaped thing with a deli-slicer kind of blade on it. You use it to give the dowel a bevel so the other piece has something to start with. The other thing has a hole with a small cutting edge at the center. You adjust the size of the hole to the diameter you need, put it up against the beveled end of the dowel, and start turning. As it rotates, it shaves the dowel along its circumference and allows the rest to pass through the hollow opening up to the point where you set this stopper thing.
Okay, so it’s not the most practical solution, but it pretty much works (on wood at least). The result seen here is a bit extreme, probably because it took so much off (it was the first test run), but it does leave a rough surface behind that has to be sanded smooth. I’m sure different woods respond differently.
So everybody who has a latheless whistlemaker on your holiday gift list, head on out to Hope Depot and ask them where their hollow auger sets are! (because I can’t find them there)
All right, a bit of googling reveals that the deli slicer cone is actually called a spoke pointer. Here’s a page giving a bit of the history of hollow augers:
I just use a belt sander and put a small nail in each end to act as a pivot. Hold the rod flush with the rotating belt and let the rod slowly sand down (albeit at a million RPM) and hope it don’t come unstuck, thus shooting myself with the dowel and possibly a small nail or two. I, too, want for a small lathe. I will try the drill idea. I have a drill press and I don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself.
Interesting approach.
If you’re going to keep at whistle making, invest in a small drill press. You can get one very inexpensively and can use it to sand down fipple plugs and drill more accurate finger holes.
fwiw looks like you say trying to cut to much off in one pass, and also looks like the cutter is dull. The tenon cutter you have there looks very similar to high dollar ones at Lee Valley http://www.leevalley.com I do have one of the cheap ones $21.50 item 05J60.05 After that the prices go way up. You could probably sharpen and adjust yours, and have it work just fine. The plug will still need to be sanded to produce a smooth windway floor.
after playing and the wood plug gets wet the grain will rise and distort the air flow. that is why clarks change, but sometimes better or worse. To alleviate the grain raising wet the plug with water and let it dry than sand smooth. Do this at least three times, and most woods can be made very smooth and no grain rising when playing. A hair dryer can be used to speed up the drying of the plug. It the final stages use a high number grit abrasive paper. When you think it is smooth enough take a piece of brown paper bag and polish the plug with it.
Just the brown paper put nothing on it. Save cutting the plug to length for last to make it easy to hold when sanding.
