Wet your whistle?

[Ryan Mooney]

Anyone else getting the spring slip bark whistle making bug? Its the right time of year for it around here anyway, bark is nice and loose. I made 5 from some twigs I picked up while walking the dogs last nigh, figure I'll hand them out to the neighborhood kids to annoy the parents :D Two from a maple branch and the others from a lilac bush.

I like fancy tools as much as the next guy, but there is something about a nice little toy like this you can make with just a pocket knife that is somehow appealing. Must do more whittling :rolleyes: I realize that this is sort of "down scale" from most of what y'all do, but dang these are fun to make :)

[Jim Koepke]

How about a tutorial or some pictures so the clueless folks like me might be able to make a whistle or two.

jtk

[glenn bradley]

http://www.tardigrade.biz/?page_id=739

[Ryan Mooney]

Or this one (from a youtube search): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iORQuIMM_sg
A couple of notes:
- the bigger/longer the echo chamber the lower the tone, little finger sized sticks make a *sharp* whistle, big toe sized sticks make a more of a whoooo whistle. I actually prefer to cut the chamber square on both ends, I find you get a bit "better" tone that way. I usually remove a bit over 1/2 the width of the stick when making the chamber.
- if it goes pffft when you blow on it, make the entry hole larger
- I pretty much never bother with the chamfer on entry, yeah it looks nicer but for finger sized whistles I actually find it easier to blow them without it.

If you cut the wood all the way through where the notch is, then you can use it as a slide (trombone) whistle by sliding the long piece opposite the blow hole in and out. If you're helping some older kids make them, these are cool... if you're making some to give to younger kids the single tone version with some wood left to hold it together is a lot more robust.

[Zach England]

The term is "whet."

Edit: After some cursory research it seems that indeed there is controversy surrounding the origin of the phrase, so the correctness of either "wet" or "whet" is ambiguous.

However, while a whistle may be "wet or "whet," an appetite or palate is always "whet."

[Jim Koepke]

That is cool, give me something to make when the grandkids visit. Have to try making a few for practice first.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Tried making these from the maple around here. The bark is just too well attached.

The branch of filbert worked. Have to try that again since I caused a split in the bark on that. The whistle worked, but was a bit high pitched and not very loud.

Most of our trees have thin bark or it hangs on tenaciously.

Thanks for sharing.

jtk

[Ryan Mooney]

The bark can be a pain to get off, I've had better luck with a slightly different technique than the tapping shown above.

Take a slightly oval (or if not to wide mostly flat) knife, screwdriver, etc.. handle. Work the bark in sections starting at the cutoff end by rolling the stick against your knife handle (or etc..) pressing pretty hard. It works best on trees with the sap still running (bark is looser), the greener the sticks the better. This especially works better with slightly thicker barks.

I always thought you whetted stones, axes, appetites and the girl next door :p. I've wetted whistles, sponges and the yard but rarely the bed :eek:. Thats just me though and I suspect its a lot like color vs colour and it depends on where abouts you hang out. It may also depend on the connotation you want, whetting would be more "sharpening" whereas wetting is "moistening".. Either works in this context I believe (I actually went back and forth twice when entering the title :D)

[Jim Koepke]

Because of this thread, most of the day yesterday was spent making whistles.

I have never made a whistle before.

My wife had a good laugh when I came in the house and showed her what I made. She said we could give them to the grand kids and make their mom hate us.

Made one from a piece of scrap 2X3 by drilling a 1" hole down its length. I then cut the whistle port about an inch in using a gouge, chisel and knife. Then I cut an edge off of a 1" dowel and shoved it in to the whistle port. It looks like a hunk of wood until you blow on it.

My thoughts are running to making some on the lathe or by other methods and selling them at the farmers market.

jtk