Sourcing wood. A steep learning curve. Balsa wood uncovered.

I started off using Balsa wood for the pipes of the Organ. This decision was made as the John Smith plans specified this wood. I'd seen several organs made with Balsa wood and found it produced a good sound so I didn't give it a second thought. I photocopied the scale pipe size diagram from the plans and cut out all the pipes with a bansaw. The cutting diagram was a new idea to me which I found in the John Smith plans. It saved time after its drawn up as you can check your lengths and widths quickly by holding it up to the diagram. Also if you want to change the measurements it is easier. This is clear when you inspect the diagram. Cutting the balsa wood on the bansaw produced allot of fluff. I didn't really enjoy working with the wood. Some further investigation into balsa wood reveled that it had a very wide range of density : http://wapedia.mobi/en/Balsa_(tree)

So how could it be used to give a reliable sound? PVA is needed to seal the pipes and a hard wood strip is required to make the sound. So why not use a plastic? I had a personal dislike of the idea of using plastic as it was far from traditional and wouldn't look right. Also I wanted to learn more about using the traditional material of wood. Laser cutting everything is not something I admire.

I also came across environmental issues with using Balsa wood. Did you know that it is one of the heaviest trees, but one of the lightest woods after the sap is removed?

This is a good website of material data. This is all the properties of Balsa wood including sustainability:

http://www.matbase.com/material/wood/class4-5-10-years/balsa/properties

It turned out that I had made a number one school boy error. I had not checked the pipe cutting diagram after photocopying it. Photocopiers warp the image slightly which is bad when you are using them for accurate measurements which you need to make specific musical notes.

I had to cut out all the pipes again. As I had learnt that balsa wood was not such a nice feeling wood or environmentally friendly I considered other woods I could use. I e-mailed several Organ makers, some professional and some making organs as a hobby. I got a variety of responses. Some people said that it didn't matter what you used as long as you sealed the wood with something. Other people said it had to be a good quality hardwood. You will find all useful e-mails on this topic in my research folder under making techniques. Looking at the information I received subjectively I chose to go for a hard wood. Although I have no doubt that Balsa wood would also produce good results, I liked the idea of using a heavier wood which would clean up better. I also had all the equipment needed for working with such wood.

This did however throw up new problems. For me to work the wood into pipes I needed the wood to be around 5mm thick. I didn't think this would be a problem until I went to several timber merchants who told me that:

A) They didn't really sell hardwoods,
B) The hard woods that they did have came in 2 inch thick planks,
C) planing down the wood that thin would cause allot of warping,
D) there planner didn't even plan down that thin.

This was more of a job than I considered. I started work on the bellows during this time to be more efficient.

I kept phoning around different timber places until I found someone who could help. Help came in the form of this company:

http://www.thorogood.co.uk/

They specialized in what I was looking for so I went for it. They could make all the wood I needed in a nice tulip wood, in 5mm thick. I was very pleased. The price was very high but as I'd spent quite a bit of time with people who told me that it couldn't be done I didn't mind so much paying £75. Now I know better. This article was very enlightening:

http://www.melright.com/busker/jsart28.htm

Of course when I read the tittle I hoped it would be a machine which made the whole pipe not just the wood for it.

So finally the very beautiful wood arrived. I was very happy. I now know allot about how wood is made into flatter sheets and how you need to know about warping if you want a natural wood. If you want a large flat material (larger than the width of a tree) you can't use a natural material, use ply or MDF. I have found people making organs out of MDF.