I crafted this large wood flute out of a piece of scrap dark walnut. It has a 7/8 inch bore and keyed in G. The bird and mouth piece is made out of heartwood cedar.

Walnut wood has a different scent to it. Eastern black Walnut grows in this area. (Northern Wisconsin) And it seems to be one of the last to leaf out in the spring. It is easy to machine with wood working tools. I was lucky enough to have some grain characteristics in this scrap chunk to give this wood flute its own personality. You can listen to its voice by clicking on the Night Dreaming link. If you like the track you can download it at the end of the article. 

I used a quick drying poly for the finish. I didn’t finish coat the inside areas of the barrel or slow action chamber (SAC). I just left them alone after finish sanding with very fine sandpaper.

In the area of applying finish to the inside of the wood flute you hear a lot of different opinions. Some say it helps prevent the flute from wetting out. Wetting out a flute doesn’t happen to me very often because I have a lot of flutes to play and change often. When I first started out I had one flute which was a F# Eastern Red Cedar made by another wood flute maker. I kept playing and playing until it just quit from wetting out. I called Jerry and he told me to drop a little oil in the SAC and that should help. And it did.

If I remember correctly I put 3 coats of poly on the exterior with sanding with fine steel wool in-between coats. I use a solvent with the steel wool for sanding lubricant.

I started this wood flute project on a whim with a piece of scrap wood in my shop. And I am glad how it turned out. The flute sounds great and I really like the grain patterns of the dark Walnut.

KCDoberstein