It’s been a month or so since my last post here, and I mentioned I had two potential flute blanks left, already ripped and routed, of some really horrible wood. Since the only volunteer I had fo help rip and rout lumber, via a table mounted router, and a huge saw, was a 6 year old neighbor kid, who’s parents said “Oh Hell no”……I had to build a flute from one of them. Meet Laotian Flamewood. It took 120+ hours, or a month with my work ethic, to turn it into a flute. On the Janka hardness scale, it weighs in at 2430, while cedar rates at 900. It’s hard. Those numbers could be jelly beans for all I know. It also weighs 65 lbs a cubic foot.
Tuned to Gm, the flute has a 1” bore diameter and length of about 20”. Woods used include SE Asian amboyna, Thuya burl, box elder burl, mappa burl, Virginia walnut, yew, and Oregon poplar. Inlay includes Mexican boulder opal, Mexican crazy lace agate, almandine garnet from Sri Lanka, abalone, turquoise, and hematite.
Owing to its density, condensation wet out is always an issue with extremely hard wood, so I incorporated a low tech wicking system taught to me by the late Leonard Lone Crow. Stay safe, and send up prayers for the well being of the people of Ukraine.