Tools of the Trade

amandamarkwick — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:33:01 +0000

I interrupt the chronological flow of my flute-building project in order to show you some tools of the trade. I was going to just pull flashy, high-resolution images off the web until my husband pointed out that I’d be violating copyrights, so here are photos taken by my very low-resolution camera of the actual tools I’m using to create this flute. And other interesting things you might find in the wood shop.

The wood supply at the workshop in Delft

a lathe, used for turning the wood

a row of gouges and skews, used to shape the wood while it is turning on the lathe

gouges and skews, close up

a row of files used for smoothing out surfaces; can be used by hand or on the lathe

files, close up

sandpaper and drill bits, improvised tools used for undercutting the holes on the flute

calipers, a sliding ruler to measure all sorts diameters and distances

On making an instrument *6

amandamarkwick — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:56:08 +0000

February 18, 2009

My flute has holes! And, as a friend said, “Wow, look, it has bling!”

Rewind a couple of hours: Today was a very fun class for me. Drilling the holes on the milling machine was actually very easy, and it is somehow very fulfilling to complete that part that, in fact, makes this wooden cylinder a flute, both visually and functionally. I first had to mark the embouchure and finger holes on the wood with a pencil – I had found the distances by reducing those of my tenor flute by 25%. Then off to the milling machine I went, where Paul showed me how to set it up and secure the wood onto the base. Here is the cylinder clamped onto the milling machine. If you look closely, you can see a small pencil mark where the holes will be.

_____

So then, the drill bit is spinning around, and you slowly lower it with the lever, and it very easily just drills into the wood.

Here's the completed flute body.

The headjoint was the same, though we used a little bit bigger drill bit for that one. Here’s the finished headjoint. (I apologize that the focus in the photo is actually on the corks in the back. I’m using my phone camera for this whole journey, mostly because I always have it handy. But, the shorter cork is the one we chopped a bit off of to use in the headjoint.)

Once I sanded it inside (to remove any little splinters created by drilling), we put the cork in (which Paul measured and shaped while I wasn’t looking), and then the moment of truth…

My flute plays! It is in G, at 415. Ultimately we want it in G at 440, but that will get worked out in the next couple of weeks.

Amanda Markwick-Historical Flutist » milling machine

Tools of the Trade

On making an instrument *6