I made a practice chanter for a friend of mine and didn’t like the way the sole turned out so I cut it off, then couldn’t decide what material to use for the sole so I made three of them and put cork on the tenon joint so they could be interchanged. At this point in my career I need to get a better camera or figure out how to get higher resolution pictures out of the one I have because the figuring in the boxwood elder burl sole is beautiful. The other two off to the side are blackwood and olive. 

I made all the joints of this practice chanter fitted with cork because it compresses while maintaining tension and allows the wood to move a bit without cracking. The ferrule is sterling silver from my smallpipe silver supply. 

I got back from Pennsic a few days ago and am finishing up some odds and ends while making the next set of smallpipes from osage orange. I’m getting into some pewter casting as part of the decoration on a Highland pipe chanter but I’m not going to show pictures of that until I get something worth looking at. There is a jewelry making school here in Asheville and I’m scheduled to go in for a casting lesson in the next couple of weeks so I can (hopefully) cast some rods for the sterling drone switch I’m making this month. 

cocobolo with interchangeable soles