How to Make a Wooden Penny Whistle
Creating a wooden penny whistle is a fun yet challenging process. With careful measurements and some tweaking, you can easily create a one-of-a-kind handmade musical instrument. Some musicians love to use a penny whistle during parades and marches. Its unique sound rises above other instruments while maintaining a concert-grade quality. If you do not want to spend much for a musical instrument, you can create a wooden penny whistle in just a few simply steps.
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Things You'll Need
- 1/2-inch wooden pipe
- Metal punch
- Pipe connector to fit ½-inch pipe
- Marker
- Electric driller
- Fine-grit sandpaper
- 5/8-inch wooden doweling
- Carving tool
- Miter saw
- Ruler
Instructions
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1
Cut your wooden pipe to achieve a length of 3.5 centimeters. This will be the fipple or the mouthpiece of your wooden penny whistle.
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2
Slide half of the connecting sleeve onto the pipe and use your metal punch to secure both pieces together on each side of your pipe connector.
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3
Use your marker to mark 2.45 centimeters from your sleeve’s bottom part. Drill a 7/32-bit hole using your electric driller through both the pipe and the sleeve.
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4
Use a fine-grit sandpaper to sand the doweling from the top and side view of the channel until it snugly fits inside your pipe. See to it that the doweling measures an inch in length and about .9cm in width on one end, while the other end with the flattened side measures .75 centimeters in length.
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5
Carve a channel at the center of the dowel’s flat end using your carving tool. This must measure around .9 centimeters in thickness right at the end of the dowel, while its thinner end measures .75 centimeters.
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6
Insert your carved dowel into your wooden pipe right at the end of the fipple, with the thinner end first.
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7
Use your miter saw to cut an angle right onto the end of the fipple. This will allow you to cut through both the wooden dowel and the pipe. Use your sandpaper to smoothen the surface to form the end that will go into your mouth.
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8
Start building the body of the penny whistle by cutting your wooden piping to 12 inches in length using your miter saw.
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9
Use your marker to designate the exact spots where you will be drilling the holes of the pipe. Mark the following millimeter points from your pipe’s bottom: 42.5, 70.5, 92.5, 116.5, 140.5, 152.5. Use your ruler for measuring.
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10
Drill the marked areas using your electric driller using the following inch bits from the bottom of the pipe: 17/64, 17/64, 3/16, 15/64, 15/64 and 13/64.
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11
Slide the fipple at the top of the pipe to complete your wooden penny whistle.
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