[Woodcarver] terry zobl whistles

[terry zobl]

Greetings Butch Johnson
The advise from Bill Smith and Bob Mau was very good so I assume they have made whistles.

Here is what I do;
Drill the chamber hole in a stick.  The hole must be smooth.  If you drill wet wood there will be loose fibers hanging which is difficult to clean up.  Using dry wood makes it easier to get the chamber hole smooth even if you need to sand it.  If you drill too far and creat an air leak you will need to seal it or throw it away and start over.  Sometimes I chip carve too deep and cause an air leak which usually I can seal by dripping some glue into the chamber and sealing from the inside.

There are two holes, the slot hole and the blow-into hole, and size does matter.  I usually cut these a bit small at first and gradually make them bigger as I am tuning the whistle.  The blow-into hole is cut on the plug and must be flat and smooth.

The trickiest part is the location of the plug in relation to the slot hole.  In general you insert the plug far enough to reach the slot hole.  However very minor adjustments in or out is the most critical adjustment to making the whistle work.  

You play with the depth of the plug in the chamber hole until you find the spot where it whistles.  Then you gradually increase the size of the two holes to tune it for loudness.

When you are satisfied with the settings you glue in the plug and test/adjust it again before the glue sets.

Sometimes after the glue dries I find that the blow-into hole is a bit restricted which I clean up with a flat needle file or woodburning tool.

When all done I soak the whistle in boiled linseed oil and that seams to make it whistle even better.

If anyone has made whistles I would sure like to see some pictures.

http://community.webshots.com/album/131250938MjKQlC
Terry Zobl, Michigan

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can someone help me -- I can't get my whistles to sound load - I have tried and tried -- what is the secret?
Butch Johnson
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