Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hello Amokrun - I would suggest a band saw; the kerf would be thin and the pieces would join up perfectly (provided you left them intact). Additionally you can shape the bore to suit, tape the parts together, test the the whole thing and adjust as needed..... nice project.

gm

Hi Amokrun,

amokrun wrote:

I'm thinking of giving flute-making another try. ...
I believe most makers who use wood simply use some kind of tools to cut a long, straight hole into the wood. As the result of this most wooden flutes are almost entirely straight....

Shakuhachi made from wood in Japan have tapered bores like root end shakuhachi. The makers use a set of tapered reamers hollow out the wood.

The second best way I can think of is to cut the whole thing in half. This has the added advantage that the flute itself can be shaped in almost any way because you can always cut it in half and just carve a bore there. I'm sure it'll be plenty difficult to actually carve the bore right if the flute is very curved but I'll hope that some divine inspiration hits me when I get to that point. At least working on the bore should be easier since it's already in two pieces.

This is how many modern Native American Flutes are made. 

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

You can search the web for how the NAF is made. Or, maybe one of the NAF makers here can offer suggestions.
Good luck and let us know what happens!
- Perry

Yungflutes wrote:

Shakuhachi made from wood in Japan have tapered bores like root end shakuhachi. The makers use a set of tapered reamers hollow out the wood.

Interesting. However, wouldn't this only work for as long as the bore is at least somewhat straight? I somehow can't see it producing very curved bores. For example, if we take a look at the Yuu, the bore in it is basically straight all the way until it gets to the root. After that it suddenly makes a rather steep turn and becomes straight again until the end. In other words, the bore is not really curved but rather looks a bit like letter L since there is a clear corner near the bore. I'm assuming that most wooden flutes come out something like that as well.

If possible, I'd love to try to make the bore follow the shape of the flute to some degree. With carving the bore, it doesn't really matter much even if the flute curves 180 degrees as long as you can somehow get the two halves apart. I'm also thinking that it should make working on the bore easier because you can just take the flute apart and work on any area you like. The downside is having to somehow hide the seam in the finished product. I'll have to see how bad it looks when it gets done.

Yungflutes wrote:

Good luck and let us know what happens!

Will do. First I need to locate some suitable pieces of wood. Too bad it's winter now as during the summer I could have just walked outside and picked up something. Frozen logs aren't the most optimal materials to use.

I'm hoping to do as much of this without power tools as possible. The cutting part seems to be tricky enough that I'll do it on a machine but the rest of it I'm hoping to do the good old way with a knife and a file. It may take a while but thankfully I'm not in hurry to get this done.

amokrun wrote:

I'm hoping to do as much of this without power tools as possible. The cutting part seems to be tricky enough that I'll do it on a machine but the rest of it I'm hoping to do the good old way with a knife and a file. It may take a while but thankfully I'm not in hurry to get this done.

It's really gratifying and when we made things in the old way, without power tools, we really feel closest to nature... Power tools have excessive power!!! Are aggressive in my point of view. 
 
When I started to make my flutes (first side-blow then started on shakuhachi) I was using powered tools... As the time passed, I change them for manual tool... We can use them anywhere even if there doesn't have eletricity. It's really a nice way to do whatever we do... A good flute or a closet to store our tools! 
 
 
A big hug. 
 
Peace

amokrun wrote:

Yungflutes wrote:

Shakuhachi made from wood in Japan have tapered bores like root end shakuhachi. The makers use a set of tapered reamers hollow out the wood.

Interesting. However, wouldn't this only work for as long as the bore is at least somewhat straight? I somehow can't see it producing very curved bores. For example, if we take a look at the Yuu, the bore in it is basically straight all the way until it gets to the root. After that it suddenly makes a rather steep turn and becomes straight again until the end. In other words, the bore is not really curved but rather looks a bit like letter L since there is a clear corner near the bore. I'm assuming that most wooden flutes come out something like that as well.

The bore of the Yuu is first cast with a straight bore. Then the bottom is reamed and has a cone with the bottom bore shape inserted or recast to go along with the curve. You can see the seam at the bottom if you look closely. Wooden flutes are all straight but with the proper taper and choke point below #1.

It seems it would be easier to make a straight bore with a proper choke point and then cut and rejoin the flute where you want the curve to be.
Just a thought.
Peace, Perry

gmiller wrote:

This thread began as a desire to "try flute making, again".... Why re-invent the wheel? Buy an inexpensive, neglected flute from ebay and invest your energy into making it into something good..... It doesn't make any difference what we start with; no one can make a decent shakuhachi without a sound understanding of the bore dynamnic and bore design...... So, why not start with something that's part way there?....

For the most part, I don't care so much about making a good flute. I'm doing this mostly to better understand what is involved in making a flute. I doubt I'll ever be able to make anything that can be used to play a piece. Then again, that is not really my goal. I had fun working on that bamboo stick even though it didn't last all the way. Starting from a nearly completed flute would skip the first steps whereas the early steps are the interesting part for me. I find getting from nothing to something more interesting than getting from something to something good.

As far as wood goes, it could be an interesting material because, just like people living in Japan back in the day, I could actually walk into the forest next to my house and pick up a piece of wood to use as material. Sure, it's not going to be the best flute. However, it'll be something I made myself using materials available to me. I was never good at any sort of crafting, most likely because I never really put any effort into it, and so I'm hoping to go back and see what I missed.

Something that I happened to think of while going through a box of scrap wood we have here at work. Cutting a block of wood in half requires some serious equipment. However, wouldn't it basically work just as well to use two blocks of wood which are roughly the same size? I could basically sand and file the pieces so that they can be glued together and then carve half a bore into each piece. Doing it this way would basically require nothing but a knife for carving, some sand paper and a file for smoothing things out and finally a simple drill for making the holes. This would simplify the process quite a bit even though the carving part would get more difficult.

As far as I can tell, the biggest problem with using two different pieces of wood instead of splitting one is in getting them to fit together. I'll have to see how well this would work. Another problem is more cosmetic. The pieces, once glued together, would not really look like one solid piece of wood because the texture of the wood would be entirely different. I don't consider this to be a major issue and  it shouldn't even make a difference if the flute gets painted or otherwise covered in something that hides the natural surface of the wood.

What do you think? Would using two halves instead of cutting one piece work? I don't really mind the extra work in getting the pieces to fit together. I'm trying to make this process require as few tools as possible and stick to simple things. Doing it this way would require no power tools at all as far as I can tell.

one thing to keep in mind that different woods expand/contract at different rates with regards to humidity, and the flute will warp, if not separate completely.  I'm a guitar maker and i must keep this in mind whenever i join different woods.  if you're using the same wood though....you should be alright.   

Jacques

Sorry, Matti, but in order to truly enter the spiritual realm in this endeavor,
all carving and shaping must be done with bare hands and fingernails.

eB


[BTW: That tool you mentioned is called a spokeshave.]

Last edited by edosan (2008-02-03 09:44:49)

amokrun wrote:

Would teeth be acceptable? Of course, the truly enlightened simply blow hard enough that a hole forms into a piece of wood. After that it's a simple matter of staring at the stick for a while until it curves up just right.

Touché, and deep bows of respect 

Try using 4 pieces of wood when your making the flutes. Its easier to get the sides to fit together and if you use a dowel clamping the pieces after glueing works pretty well.

You were describing a large plane. I use a small handheald one to rough shape the outside of the wooden shakuhachi I have made. The only real problem I have had making this type of flute has been getting the 1/4 rounded arc right for the inside of each of the pieces. I normally just get close and then sand the inside round.

I'll post a pic as soon as I figure out how.