Answering The Challenge

Finished Drone Flute

Other side of Drone Flute


Close up of top of Flute


Wonderful Grain Patterns



More Wonderful Grain Patterns



View from front of Drone Flute

View of blowing end of Flute

Today I am posting photos of the finished Drone Flute, please forgive the surrounding clutter, this is to show you the whole flute and NOT the background...lol....Click on the photographs to view larger and more detailed views.

I have really enjoyed this challenge, as I learned many new things about the construction of a flute as I went...sometimes the best lessons are learned by doing rather than Reading about it...as the old saying goes.."Experience is the best teacher".

Loving a Challenge

I love a real Challenge, as those who know me could tell you, so I recently challenged myself to make a Flute called a "Drone Flute" which is a double barreled flute , one side having the 6 fingering holes to play the melody with and the side opposite of it having only one fingering hole which is placed on the underside of that barrel to be fingered with the thumb of the left hand thus allowing it to produce two harmonic notes.

The real challenge is in the layout and making of this type of flute and then shaping it so that both barrels can be played together or just the melody side by either placing part of the tongue over the drone side blow hole or the edge of the mouth for just the melody side or blowing both sides at the same time for the drone side to play along with the melody side.


I have been working on this new flute for several days now and will soon have it finished, within the next few days, and then I will post a couple photographs of it.

This flute is made from Aromatic Red Cedar in two pieces that are 3/4 inches thick by 2 inches wide and are routed out with side by side fast air chambers and sound chambers separated by only one eighth of an inch and then the routed out areas sanded very smooth and then the two side firmly glued together, all fingering holes drilled and then given the final shaping of the flute and then the fingering holes tuned by changing the size of each hole to bring it into tune, then given a good coat inside and out of Tongue Oil to seal the wood and protect it from moisture created when playing, all hand rubbed, and then given a couple coats of Johnson's Paste Wax for long range protection and buffed to a soft glow.

Check back to see the Final "Drone Flute" when I post it.

Several people have said "I bet the flutes must sound wonderful" well when you come to my blog, the music that you first hear when coming on is the Native American Flute being played, has a sound all it's own, this flute is also called the "Love Flute" as it was traditionally played by a young Native man to woo his sweetheart into accepting his proposal of marriage to him, after asking her father and family for her hand and meeting any and all requirements of gifts etc.

Catching Up

Black Walnut Flute Displayed on Deer Antler/Skull Stand

Close up of Carved Buffalo Block (Bird) carved from Cedar

Aromatic Red Cedar Flute on Deer Antler/Skull Stand

Close Up showing Details of Cedar Flute

Close Up of Horse (Hand Carved Cedar) Block

Click on the photographs to enlarge for better Detail.

It has been a game of "Catchup" since I got out of the Hospital, the garden went wild weed wise and the Zucchini and Yellow Squash grew to enormous size and had to be picked and thrown away making room for new growth to be picked at the smaller size for eating and selling.

I finally got caught up in the garden and was able to again get back to finishing up on two Flutes that I had started. Pictured above are two flutes, one (Top one) is Black Walnut with a 1" bore and a hand carved Aromatic Red Cedar Block (Buffalo-American Bison) and 4 diamond shaped pieces of Turquoise that I cut and inlaid into the Walnut and sanded and polished flush with the Flute's surface for decoration.

The Second Flute Pictured is made from Aromatic Red Cedar with a Horse that is hand Carved for the Block.

I am slowly healing and getting some better every day but still have to take it a bit easy and be patient till I get my strength back and continue on with my creations.....thank you to all who sent me good wishes and thoughts...."I shall Return" to some semblance of normalcy soon.

Flute Making/"Birds"

I am again making some Flutes, 11 more to be exact, 5 Aromatic Red Cedar and 6 Black Walnut Flutes.

I started hand carving the Blocks(also called "Birds"), which goes on top of the flute and channels the air from the slow air chamber to blow across the sounding board hole, each Block("Bird") has a small channel cut in on the under side to pick up air and channel it forward over the forward hole cut into the sound chamber .

Most often craftsmen make the Block in the shape of an Animal or Bird, thus the reason most times the Block is referred to as a "Bird".

I started carving the Blocks ("Birds") using Aromatic Red Cedar and carved the 4 pictured above, and finished the 5 th one today...each taking about a day or two to hand carve, depending on the amount of detail involved.

Below I am picturing all 5 now completed Blocks ("Birds").

Click on each to enlarge for a better detailed view.

A friend who is of the Crane Clan (Native American) asked me a short time ago if I could do a Crane.....of course loving a challenge..I decided to do one and here it is.

This is an Eagle Head I carved for a Block("Bird").



This is a Buffalo (American Bison) I carved.

My version of a Howling Wolf.

In keeping with loving a challenge ,I carved this Symbolic Bear with an inlaid Heart Line of Turquoise, which I cut and inlaid and then ground down flush with the Cedar wood and then polished, it has the Turquoise Heart Line on both sides.

All the carvings have both sides carved as identically as possible, then they are sealed with Danish Oil Finish and given a coat or two of Paste Wax.

I have the Eleven Flute Blanks (2 inches Square by 24-28 1/2 inches long) all ready to rout out the Sound Chambers and Slow Air Chambers,which will be a One Inch Bore, I will then drill the fingering holes in the proper places and tune the flute and shape it and then seal it with Danish Oil finish(several coats) and then give them a few coats of Johnsons Paste Wax and buff to a nice soft glow to bring out the beauty of the wood used.

When I finish a flute or two I will post photographs of them for you to follow the progress of the 11 flutes I am making.