Custom bagpipe chanter reed protector

[416 Rigby]

I've been playing on a old wood lathe that my boss gave to me. It's been a blast turning keychains, razor sets, and other small items. I made some pipe chanter caps for my teacher and a couple of my friends. I think they're pretty cool. First one is maple burl for my teacher:
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These are spalted maple:
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I'm going to make one for myself from black and white ebony.

Something different that you don't see every day. This is fun stuff.

[416 Rigby]

Here's a shot of the top ends, complete with Christmas bling.
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[Blupiper]

Beautiful work, sir. Where do I sign up?

JMB

[416 Rigby]

Thanks. My goal is to perfect my methods to make an heirloom quality cap, to include buffing and waxing the inside as well. I just love beautiful wood. The aviator in me won't go away...I'm a detail freak and a perfectionist. I'll get there.

I also made up a set of stocks for an old Ross bag to use as a goose. These are Bocote.
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[OC Richard]

Lovely work!

I too would be interested in getting two or three of those! Particularly in a lightweight but hard wood like Maple perhaps.

I've discovered, the hard way, that the ID of the cap (protector) should be scarcely larger than that of your stock.

I have several of those caps, in polypenco/delrin, and tend to prefer the thin-walled ones because they're so much lighter to carry around in the pipe case (delrin being very dense and heavy).

But! The other day I paid the price, because the thin-walled ones have much larger IDs, meaning that if the screw gets a bit loose the cap can get tilted to one side, and it happened, and ruined my very best reed!

Dawned on me that I want the narrowest possible ID so that the cap stays on straight and can't hit the edge of the reed blade.

[416 Rigby]

Thanks, gents. For a "beautiful wood freak" like me, there's something very cool about these things. Plus, I like things that are unique that you don't see every day. I would imagine you'd get quite a reaction from your band mates if you pulled out your chanter with one of these on top.

Would the two of you be interested in assisting with some development details and field testing? I want to be comfortable with quality of design, dimensions, and durability before I actually sell something to somebody. I sent each of you a PM.

[416 Rigby]

This is a shaving set I made from black and white ebony, I just love this wood. I'll probably make a cap from it for myself tomorrow. So many exotic woods to choose from.
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[OC Richard]

As far as the ID goes, different pipes vary. Vintage (c1880-1930) pipes often have wider-bore stocks than newer pipes.

I like to measure pipes as a sort of a hobby. Here are some chanter stock IDs

1) c1890 Glen .8125
2) c1905 Lawrie .789
3) c1930 Lawrie .78
4) c1960 Hardie .8
5) 2006 McCallum .765

Personally, since the chanter stocks on all three of my pipes are around .8, a cap that had a bore a tiny bit bigger than that, so it would slip on with almost no play, would be ideal.

About the screw-thingy, some are too small to grip easily, some are thin and cut into your fingers. My favourites are the bigger fatter ones, easy and comfortable to grip and turn.

You don't want any sharp edges anywhere, on the cap or on the screw-thingy, because chanters get thrown into pipe cases with a $350 sheepskin pipe bag that you don't want to get poked.

You need a screw-thingy, of course, unless each cap is custom-made for each chanter stock. Even stocks from the same maker can vary from pipe to pipe.

BTW on modern pipes all the stocks are usually the same ID. However on vintage pipes the chanter and blowpipe stock are often of one ID, the tenor stocks of a second ID, and the bass stock its own unique ID.

One would think that the bass stock would be bigger than the tenors, but on my c1905 Lawries (on which it's obvious that all the stocks are original to the pipes) the bass stock has a narrower ID than the tenors. On my c1890 Glens it's the other way round.

[416 Rigby]

Thanks, Richard. It appears, then, that most makers use a bit of 13/16" or 20mm for the metric. I'll stick with the 13/16" bit for my caps.

I'm using nylon thumb screws instead of metal for exactly the reasons you mention. I ordered the decorative screws but they shipped ones with a screw slot. The proper ones will be here this week.

Finally got around to making one for me!
I love b&w ebony, and it turns great. It's extremely hard, twice as hard as maple, the screw threads need no reinforcement with epoxy like the maple caps. The only down side is that this particular species has a propensity for random cracks, but that's just part of its character. A slight crack in my own cap is no big deal, the wood is so incredibly strong it isn't going to break in this application. I figured out how to finish the inside now, too. Came out grand!

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I'm having way too much fun with this.