"Spencer" wrote in message
om...
Once again, thanks to everyone who responded! Great stuff.

BTW: Harold, it's funny you should mention delrin bagpipe blowpipes.
A couple years ago someone gave me a chanter as a gift. (I'm a big
Corries fan and they figured it kind of, sort of fit. Alas, I've
developed no talent for it. They were wise to leave it at just the
chanter.) At any rate, I've also suspected this was made from delrin.
I know that "African blackwood" (ebony) is the traditional high
quality material, but could this cheap chanter be delrin?

Spencer

Hey Spencer,

Yep! The plastic models I've seen have all been made from Delrin.

Interesting you should mention your lack of talent. Unlike you, I jumped in
with both feet, purchased a beautiful set of pipes, ordered directly from
Sinclair in Scotland. Silver and ivory, in fact (all legal, done under
proper license for the ivory at that time, mid 80's). They sit unused. I
still screw around with the chanter, though, and have two of them, one a
Delrin model, the other blackwood. A musician I am not.

I think if you'll check a little closer you'll find that the blackwood used
in pipes is not ebony. The color of the wood in pipes is a rich dark brown
color whereas ebony is truly black. Unfortunately I do not recall what
the wood is, but it is commonly called (African) blackwood. I've machined
a small amount of it and I'd liken it almost to machining a plastic. It's
quite nice to work with, unlike so many of the woods we see with coarser
grain. It is also rather difficult to obtain according to the pipe major of
the Salt Lake Scots (he's engaged in pipe building), where I struggled to
gain some semblance of skill at the pipes. Didn't happen! :-(

Harold