Cherry Wood Flute

Today I am posting some photographs of a project that I have been working on for over a week now.

I had some very nice Cherry Wood that I decided to make a Native American Style Flute from..sometimes called the "Love Flute" or "Courting Flute".

This flute has wonderful grained Cherry Wood and I decided to cut some very thin pieces of Black Walnut ( almost veneer thin ) to cut into some diamond shapes to be inlaid into the cherry wood for contrast and decoration.

There are 4 diamond shaped pieces of Black Walnut inlaid into each side of the flute.

The Flute has a 7/8" inch bore and is tuned to the key of G#.

I carved a Buffalo for the block (Bird) out of Aromatic Red Cedar and mounted it on a piece of Mahogany.

I decided to do something that used to be done many years ago by some makers of flutes and that was to use a Brass Cartridge Shell for the mouthpiece ( I used a 30/30 caliber shell for mine) and polished it to a bright shine with OOOO steel wool.

The Flute is finished with 3 coats of Tongue Oil and steel wooled with OOOO steel wool in between each coat after it dryed, also after the final coat of Tongue Oil.

I then finished off the flute with a good coat of Paste Wax and buffed to a soft glow.

Click on any photograph to enlarge for a better view.

See below several views of the flute;

Flute as seen from one side

Flute as seen from the other side

Close up of the carved Buffalo with the Mahogany base

Close up rear view showing the Brass Cartridge