New Building Well Under Way!

Our original barn was built by Jerry Michaud back in 1989 and was a great piece of work. Jerry, his wife Barb and his brother Michael built the barn in just two weeks and everyone marvelled back then on how quick and well built the barn was.

When Nadiene and I had to pick a builder for the new barn, we called Jerry again and we were lucky enough to get him to come over and get things going. Over the weekend, we decided that a "salt box" three bay building would look good, be extremely strong under adverse conditions and be cost effective in design. We gave Jerry the heads up on the building and he finished up the details and got materials organized and on site to start the following week.

The weather warmed up and Jerry and brother Michael arrived and soon got the building underway. Even with all the snow on the ground, the building went up on the pad at a record pace. It was so warm the second day, that Jerry got rid of his shirt despite the snowy background and Mike managed to sunburn his head.

This week, Jerry's son Derek had the week off from school, so we have a second generation builder helping out and the building is going great as you can see from the photos! I checked the acoustics today with a few tunes on my Low D and this building sounds as good as the old barn and as you know, that was Acoustically Perfect!

Cleanup photos of the Acoustically Perfect Barn

This collage of photos shows the cleanup from the barn collapse. Our neighbors, Gerald Easler and his son Ed did the complete cleanup of the barn starting as soon as the blizzard calmed down enough to allow access to the site. They opened up the driveway with the large payloader to make room for the skidder to reach the barn and lift out the contents and remove the standing walls. The contents including the vehicles were carefully sorted out of the snow and set aside for storage and the standing walls were taken down and recycled to another site. All material and items in the barn were recycled and saved and the entire site was carefully cleaned despite the extremely cold and windy conditions.

When Gerald and Ed finished, the site was ready to accept the builders for our new building. They did a great job and accomplished it in record time. Thanks Gerald and Ed for turning a disaster into an unforgettable experience with you wonderful attitude and cheerful dispostions while doing a very tough job!

New Snow Record! Blizzard Hits! Acoustically Perfect Barn Falls!

The Snow Record for Maine had stood since 1955 at 181 inches. As I had mentioned earlier this winter, I was pretty sure it would be broken and it has been shattered by the last snowfall which moved the winter total to 185.7 inches. It is just March 23rd and we have a very good chance of moving the record up to 200 inches and even more by the end of snowfall in the month of April.

Here is a photo of Nadiene and the pugs in front of the downstairs entrance to the art department. We have no more room to pile snow and really need a thaw right now!

Many buildings large and small are in danger of collapsing as everyone is struggling to remove snow from rooftops all over the Aroostook County area of Northern Maine. As you can imagine, there is very little space left to pile snow and driveways and roads are becoming very dangerous and narrow to drive on.

On the first day of spring, March 19th, a blizzard alert was posted and we were hit with a foot of heavy wet ice and hail followed by a blizzard and heavy winds. Barns with animals inside collapsed and left beef cows and horses outside in the subzero winds with no protection. Many animals were buried under the barn they were in and still more have frozen outside. Every effort has been made to save the animals, but many are stranded in areas away from main roads and cannot be reach quickly.

Many commercial buildings have collapsed and private homes have had to be abandoned for a safer place, because the ice is frozen like granite to the roofs and the weight is too heavy for the buildings to remain safe. Camps at St.Froid Lake are reported to have snow in excess of twelve feet on top of them and there is no access to them until the weather breaks.

Nadiene and I were fast asleep with the pugs when the blizzard moved in and had no idea that it was like a tornado outside. The house is heavily insulated and almost sound proof to outside noise, so we had no inkling of what was transpiring in the dooryard.

The Acoustically Perfect Barn was hit by a heavy wind shear in the peak of the building due to high snow banks all around it. Apparently the gable end in the back cracked on the peak seam and started a chain reaction that eventually pushed the front of the barn out. When I took a look out the upstairs window in the morning, the barn was down and laying flat on its face. The blizzard and snow were starting to fill up the center of the barn and the ridge pole was resting on the tops of the Mazda and Nissan SUVs. The Bass Tracker boat was completely smashed and a piece of beam was down and laying across the Kioti diesel. Most of the woodworking equipment was completely destroyed including a large cabinet saw and the 21" bandsaw.

We are very lucky there was no fire and I was able to get the power shut off in the building (by reaching through what was left of the front wall) and tripping the circuit breaker. We got in a call to the insurance agent and a couple of friends before our neighbors started to call and show up. Marilee Smith called first and said she was calling her brother Carl Winslow to plow out the driveway and then she would be down. Sure enough, Carl was there in ten minutes with a plow and got the driveway open and right behind came Marilee to the rescue! She stayed all day and helped Nadiene do phone calls,get a rental vehicle, and do the mail and errands. We even shipped a couple of whistles that were due to go!

The roads were all but impassable, but neighbors showed up to see what they could do and by evening we had even located someone to take down the rest of the barn before it got any more dangerous. Marilee's husband Sid, had snow blown the driveway five or six times until it finally went into a stage of submission. It sure isn't pleasant to have a disaster happen, but it is really great to have good neighbors that show up to help.

The past two days, many folks have called to lament the passing of the Acoustically Perfect Barn and it will be sadly missed as it was a true Stradivarius of buildings. We will be making arrangements to have a Bar- B- Q on the slab when the weather gets warm and the mess gets cleaned up!

Here is a collage of photos to give you an idea of what the blizzard dished up! The Weather Channel has never has mentioned this storm or any other storms in Northern Maine in recent memory. This area would be declared a disaster area if this storm had happened in any other part of the country. Oh yeah! We are due for a big North Easter storm by Wednesday with another foot of snow.

Sideshooter Mouthpiece for Low A, Low G & Low F. Wicked Practical!

Note: International orders will be charged an additional $10 to cover shipping and insurance to destination outside the US. Please check out with your current order and we will send an invoice for the additional $10.

Hold It With A Pony Clamp and Vise Setup

Photo 1 shows the Pony clamp and vise setup mounted on the work bench. Remember the vise swivels out of the way to the left when you are not using it so you can use the bench without the vise setup being in the way.

Photo 2 is a mouthpiece being finished. The Pony clamp has adhesive backed foam box lining on the inside of the clamps to protect the finish on the mouthpiece.

Photo 3 is another shot of the vise setup showing the tightening screw used to tighten the Pony clamp. The inside jaw of the clamp can be moved anywhere on the pipe to fit wider or longer work pieces.

Using the Shoe Jig to Make a Shapely Mouthpiece.

The Shoe Jig is a gadget to hold a part when you are grinding or shaping to keep your hands away from moving parts. In the whistle shop, everything has a jig for safety and to make sure the pieces and parts are uniform and correctly shaped. The Shoe Jig holds a piece to grind like a shoe holds your foot...catchy name and descriptive too! This particular jig is made from pine wood plank recycled from a bedstead and has adjustments to fit and hold the whistle mouthpiece tightly. By putting the mouthpiece to be shaped in the jig, every one will be the same curve and length of cut without having to measure them all individually.

Here I am holding a complete mouthpiece, ready to grind the finishing curve on the bottom.

Shoe Jig installed into Slide Vise and mouthpiece being cut to shape with an abrasive drum.

Measuring Up With A Wicked Good Caliper

While going through GarrettWade.com looking for another useful tool or two, I found this giant set of Wicked Good Vernier Calipers (invented by Pierre Vernier, France,1639 for all you history buffs) listed in the woodworking tools. In the whistle shop, everything gets measured and measured and measured...so I was really excited to find this oversize tool. Here is their description and specifications for the calipers.

"Giant 24" Vernier Caliper, a splendid tool, & easily manageable despite its size
When we first discovered this, we were awestruck. There's just no other word to describe the feeling. It seems such an oddly outsized tool, yet take it up in your hand and you will think of a thousand times you could have used just such a useful measuring device. Virtually identical to a machinist's steel caliper, this one is made of aluminum, so it is easily manageable despite it's large size. A terrific find, and irresistible at this price. You'll want one just to watch your friends gawk.
Capacity: 24" long with a 2-3/4" deep jaw. Graduated in inches and millimeters, outside reading only. The Vernier scale reads in 1/128" and 0.05mm."

 

This is the perfect tool to do repeat measuring and checking parts for size. I am really impressed with all the things it is useful for, like checking board width and thickness in the wood shop, the distance on sound hole to whistle butt to check initial tuning and the list can go on and on. You will enjoy how light and easy to set these calipers are. Quick measurements require using only one hand to set and hold the slide when checking several measurement on your project. You can purchase this tool without having to take a loan out on your house...$29.95 is a great bargain.

Here I am checking the length of a Low F to make sure there is a good allowance for tuning up and down. The calipers do this job well and are extremely accurate. The whistles in the top row on the wall are on lengths of slide whistle rods that were too short to use and the whistles hanging are in clips made from left over thumb ring parts. Waste not, want not...keep America green!

Wicked Good Magnetic V Block

Make You Wood Lathe into a Wicked Good Machine Lathe for $100.

Spray Booth Box from Staples is Wicked Good!

Several of the folks I talked with on the phone in the past couple of months inquired what kind of gadgets I used to make different parts in a whistle. I thought it might be interesting to show a few time saving and interesting setups that are used in the shop.

I use vinyl to airbrush the color on the whistles and needed a better spray booth to control overspray and odor in the shop. I usually spray everything in the big barn using a dust collector, but it is too cold out there in the winter and I ran out of some colors in the Low D.

After considering several solutions, I decided to use a large poly container with a locking top bought from Staples supply of empty containers. The box measures about 2'x3' and is large enough to put a large whistle inside and have plenty of room to spray.

I screwed the box to the wall next to the back door in the shop and placed a small floor attachment from the shop vac on the bottom right side. I put a regular coat hook in the back to hang the airbrush on when not in use and stretched a sock over the floor attachment to act as a filter. I have a large collection of stretchy socks with small holes that Nadiene saved in a bag to use as buffing rags, so I sacrifice one every time I spray.

All that remained was to hook up the shop vacuum for an air supply and spray! The setup works like a charm and there is no odor or over spray. When I get done spraying, I just snap the cover on the box and everything looks very nice and tidy because it appears to be a nice clean box screwed to the wall!

Another plus feature I had not thought of is vinyl doesn't stick to poly. When the vinyl gets a good film on the inside of the box, you can just vacuum the over spray right off the sides and the box is back to looking like brand new.

This setup would work for spraying all kinds of small items and craft projects and costs less than $20. to put together as long as you have a vacuum on hand.

What People Say and Play !

I recently had a question that I think is so tantalizing scientific that it must be shared.

I received this note from a very nice lady in Vancouver, Canada who took the time to send me a special card. I couldn't wait to add it to What People Say! because what she says is so special.

Well.........It's bigger, fancier, comes in colors , weighs more, plays lower and has more parts. Oh, I forgot! Its the hardest whistle to make. At least so far. Price on this whistle was lowered by $10. in the middle of the last season, so its a good deal at the new price.

Tips for Weatherizing your Wicked Good Whistle!

When you receive your whistle or flute it will be easier to play if you warm the instrument up first. Winter shipping makes for some pretty cold temperatures inside the box and a good warmup will prevent the instrument from holding onto all the moisture you are blowing inside the bore. If you do not warm up the instrument, it will respond by bogging down and not having the volume or tone that it should have. The only remedy is to clean the whistle and dry it out even though it is brand new. I have noticed several makers have started specifying a warm up for their whistles before playing.

If you are playing in a room or outdoors and it is colder than 65 degrees, use some method to keep your whistle warm between sets.

Putting your whistle in your sleeve is one method that works well. When playing outdoors in cold weather, I have a dress coat with a long pocket sewed into the sleeve that will hold up to a Low D size whistle. My neighbor made the alteration to the coat for me and it works just great. I think a pocket that used velcro and could be removed would be a great idea.

If you blow the whistle backward from the bottom, the barrel will warm up and the moisture if any will be in the very bottom of the instrument where gravity will make it go away naturally.

I have recommended turning the mouthpiece upside down when playing in windy or cold conditions in several tips articles. Finally, several e-mails have been received telling me what a help this technique is! The amazing thing about inverting the mouthpiece is that the whistle does not know the mouthpiece is upside down and may even sound better! The mouthpiece does not feel funny when turned over and several people have said that it feels more comfortable than the regular position. An added benefit in inverting the mouthpiece is moisture gets pushed by your breath and pulled by gravity out the sound hole and your whistle plays much drier.

Wicked Important DiVinci Code Whistle Info

Wicked Weather Record about to be Broken!

Auto Pennywhistle Slide Flute

Note: International orders will be charged an additional $10 to cover shipping and insurance to destination outside the US. Please check out with your current order and we will send an invoice for the additional $10.