Spalted maple whistle

[Stephen Hibbs]

I got Bonnie Klein's book this week, and I decided to try my hand at a whistle or two using some wood I got from William Fournesses' wood salvage business (http://stores.pennswoodsstock.net/StoreFront.bok). I ordered the wood in december, and didn't get around to using much of it for pens since I got into making laminated blanks, but they were just the right size for the whistles, so I thought I'd try a whistle with one of the less impressive blanks. From the outside this blank looked boring, but it has a lot of figure, and came out nicely. I also made a walnut whistle that sounds much nicer, but it's still drying. 4.5"L x ~1"D at most, spalted maple (I think) finished with french polish. I'm wasn't sure how finish this wood since it's kind of soft and i was worried it would discolor with polyurethane, any suggestions?

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[Corey Hallagan]

Nice work Stephen, never seen anyone make these before. Thanks for posting them.

Corey

[Steve Schlumpf]

Nice looking work Stephen! Just about any finish you use is going to darken the wood - specially if it is soft. About the only thing I could suggest would be a spray-on clear laquer. Try it on a similar piece of wood first but I would think it would work for you.

[Stephen Hibbs]

I was surprised how easy and fun these were to make. I was wondering if using HUT pen polish might work, but I thought the wax might get caught in some of the tearout (yes, I left some tearout, shame on me). The book says to buff it but I don't have a buffing set up.