• Bagpipes from Australian timbers

    From kent@thescafftoolco.com.au@21:1/5 to Eric Christie on Sat Dec 5 21:34:36 2015
    On Saturday, August 5, 2000 at 5:00:00 PM UTC+10, Eric Christie wrote:
    There was a posting from Jase regarding the making of bagpipes from Australian timbers.
    I have made drones and stocks, in excess of 12 sets so far, from Belah (Casuarina cristata), Cooktown Ironwood (Erythrophleum chlorostachys),
    Gidgee (Acacia cambagei) and ABW.
    The Belah is a nice fine grained wood with a decorative texture but the fine inconspicuous radial rays contain a resin that absorbs moisture which
    causing rapid cracking. The acoustic properties are great but another material would be required particularly for the blowpipe. I made my Parlour pipes from Belah and they have a nice rich tone.
    On special request I turned a set of GHB using Cooktown Ironwood that was provided. It has quite a deep red colour with a reasonable texture but is brutally abrasive on tools and the fine dust that penetrated the dust mask caused allergic reactions with my nose. Drone sound was ok but I wouldn't
    use it under normal circumstances.
    Apart from the 3 sets made using ABW, the balance of my pipes have been made from Gidgee. It is a deep brown fine grained wood with a density of about
    1.3 or on a par with ABW. If it is kept well oiled in its initial service, the parts seem to resist cracking or splitting. The only negative I find
    with Gidgee is that it has a yellow tannin that will continue to leach out
    of the timber and the reflux action of moisture in the drones can cause the reed tongues to stick. It is possible to seal the timber to minimise this problem. My first set of drones as a trial, I still play them, didn't have any sealer applied and they didn't cause any real problems with reeds. The yellow resin is more of a problem with my laundry maid as the chips get down the shirt front and stain everything in the wash. Tone is great although I have one ear that doesn't work and the other has at least an 85dB loss.
    Other timbers that I am aware have been used for pipe making downunder are Mulga (Acacia aneura) and Lancewood (Acacia doratoxylon).

    Eric A Christie

    Hi Eric,I bought a set of Gidgee wood pipes from Toowoomba,looks like stainless furrels with a small engraving on in each,im wondering if you may have turned them,they have metal caps on the tops also.
    Cheers.
    Kent

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  • From AA MacKenzie@21:1/5 to Eric Christie on Sat Jan 16 17:59:42 2016
    On Saturday, 5 August 2000 19:00:00 UTC+12, Eric Christie wrote:
    There was a posting from Jase regarding the making of bagpipes from Australian timbers.
    I have made drones and stocks, in excess of 12 sets so far, from Belah (Casuarina cristata), Cooktown Ironwood (Erythrophleum chlorostachys),
    Gidgee (Acacia cambagei) and ABW.
    The Belah is a nice fine grained wood with a decorative texture but the fine inconspicuous radial rays contain a resin that absorbs moisture which
    causing rapid cracking. The acoustic properties are great but another material would be required particularly for the blowpipe. I made my Parlour pipes from Belah and they have a nice rich tone.
    On special request I turned a set of GHB using Cooktown Ironwood that was provided. It has quite a deep red colour with a reasonable texture but is brutally abrasive on tools and the fine dust that penetrated the dust mask caused allergic reactions with my nose. Drone sound was ok but I wouldn't
    use it under normal circumstances.
    Apart from the 3 sets made using ABW, the balance of my pipes have been made from Gidgee. It is a deep brown fine grained wood with a density of about
    1.3 or on a par with ABW. If it is kept well oiled in its initial service, the parts seem to resist cracking or splitting. The only negative I find
    with Gidgee is that it has a yellow tannin that will continue to leach out
    of the timber and the reflux action of moisture in the drones can cause the reed tongues to stick. It is possible to seal the timber to minimise this problem. My first set of drones as a trial, I still play them, didn't have any sealer applied and they didn't cause any real problems with reeds. The yellow resin is more of a problem with my laundry maid as the chips get down the shirt front and stain everything in the wash. Tone is great although I have one ear that doesn't work and the other has at least an 85dB loss.
    Other timbers that I am aware have been used for pipe making downunder are Mulga (Acacia aneura) and Lancewood (Acacia doratoxylon).

    Eric A Christie

    Kia Ora form Aotearoa, Eric!
    Can you please give us your URL so we can have a look at some of the dozen or so pipes you've made so far. I'd be very interested in viewing the Gidgee (Acacia cambagei) wood. And any Lancewood drones you may have turned. Thanks. Alan M

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  • From AA MacKenzie@21:1/5 to Eric Christie on Sat Jan 16 18:01:09 2016
    On Saturday, 5 August 2000 19:00:00 UTC+12, Eric Christie wrote:
    There was a posting from Jase regarding the making of bagpipes from Australian timbers.
    I have made drones and stocks, in excess of 12 sets so far, from Belah (Casuarina cristata), Cooktown Ironwood (Erythrophleum chlorostachys),
    Gidgee (Acacia cambagei) and ABW.
    The Belah is a nice fine grained wood with a decorative texture but the fine inconspicuous radial rays contain a resin that absorbs moisture which
    causing rapid cracking. The acoustic properties are great but another material would be required particularly for the blowpipe. I made my Parlour pipes from Belah and they have a nice rich tone.
    On special request I turned a set of GHB using Cooktown Ironwood that was provided. It has quite a deep red colour with a reasonable texture but is brutally abrasive on tools and the fine dust that penetrated the dust mask caused allergic reactions with my nose. Drone sound was ok but I wouldn't
    use it under normal circumstances.
    Apart from the 3 sets made using ABW, the balance of my pipes have been made from Gidgee. It is a deep brown fine grained wood with a density of about
    1.3 or on a par with ABW. If it is kept well oiled in its initial service, the parts seem to resist cracking or splitting. The only negative I find
    with Gidgee is that it has a yellow tannin that will continue to leach out
    of the timber and the reflux action of moisture in the drones can cause the reed tongues to stick. It is possible to seal the timber to minimise this problem. My first set of drones as a trial, I still play them, didn't have any sealer applied and they didn't cause any real problems with reeds. The yellow resin is more of a problem with my laundry maid as the chips get down the shirt front and stain everything in the wash. Tone is great although I have one ear that doesn't work and the other has at least an 85dB loss.
    Other timbers that I am aware have been used for pipe making downunder are Mulga (Acacia aneura) and Lancewood (Acacia doratoxylon).

    Eric A Christie

    Kia Ora from Aotearoa, Eric!
    Can you please give us your URL so we can have a good look at some of the dozen or so pipes you've turned so far. I'd be very interested in viewing the Gidgee (Acacia cambagei) wood pipes. And any Lancewood drones you may have turned. Have you turned
    any SSP's or BP's? Thanks. Alan M

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