Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

I've never heard that, and I don't get anything like that either. My experience is like Itamar's. Anyway, the outer skin of the bamboo is extremely tough, no need for any sweeteners...

Toby

Last edited by Toby (2010-10-10 02:53:02)

Aloha Harry, The oil gums up quickly on the rag.when wiping during aburanuki. It would be difficult to transfer to another piece of bamboo. If you want to keep the skin natural,  try polishing with buffers or with #0000 super fine steel wool by hand. Rub along the length.

Mahalo, Perry

Thanks, that makes more sense. I have some rottenstone.

Perry you answered my question, I was wondering how possible it would be, but I didnt think of it gumming up and being hard to transfer. Also, I reckon, now that I think of it, the flute that I'd be trying to transfer it to would probably need to be heated too. Not a good idea to heat a shakuhachi?

I'll try the steel wool and rottenstone.

- HH

When I started on flutemaking world, was said to me that was good to make fire cure on bamboo, and I started to make this (and all the work) in my sleep room (i used propane torch at the time). The water vapor from that went out from bamboo tips (it makes some bubbles and a vapor jet like a kettle with boiling water) and filled the room always catched me by nose (the nice looking finish was also a happy thing, of course) and one day I decided to put this water in a bottle, for two porpouses: 1) try to aply the liquid in other surfaces to try to achive the same gloss and maybe some hardness; 2)use it as perfum. After about 10 pieces I filled a bottle with more or less 100 ml of that water... I never tried to use it to achive gloss at the end, because the perfum was so good that I could not waste a single drop, ehhehe... so it became my perfum (and home aroma) for many years...

I am not sure if that liquid is mostly water or it have some oil in it... maybe if we have enough of this and boil it for sometime it can get more consistent and then be used to some kind of glossy finish... a lot of work indeed, maybe too much to get something that can be easily obtained by other means...

To be honest, some years back I thought that if this liquid could became hard when dried,  it could even be a good varnish for instruments like violin, guitar, and so... mind trips from the wacky backy youth!!!

: {p

Just use some walnut oil- two or three thin coats- wipe off the excess and wait a few days between coats - will not only shine it up, but make a good vapor barrier.

Don't apply to much though at a time. The flute will get gummy.

Toby wrote:

Vigorously rubbing a boar's tusk on the surface of the bamboo will bring out a nice shine, especially on the cut parts like the roots and utaguchi face. Just a little trick I learned from the woodcarvers in the Trobriand Islands, which transfers nicely from tropical hardwoods to Japanese bamboo...

That's pretty awesome.. never heard of doing this. Where did you find boars tusks though?

Mark Angevine wrote:

Plenty of boars on Kauai, Harry. Maybe some on your island,too.

Oh yeah, that's true. Thanks! For some reason, I thought it had to be a special type of boar.

HarryHansen wrote:

Mark Angevine wrote:

Plenty of boars on Kauai, Harry. Maybe some on your island,too.

Oh yeah, that's true. Thanks! For some reason, I thought it had to be a special type of boar.

Nah....I've heard that hippopotamus tusk works every bit as well.

Toby wrote:

Not to be boaring, but you can actually use any smooth, hard substance that does not have a sharp edge. When I couldn't find my tusk, I tried with a steel rod and it worked just as well. Since it works by compressing any small irregularities in the surface, it isn't permanent...it's actually kind of like a shoe shine....

The more polished, and the larger the diameter of the hard object, the better the performance. That's why shiny ivory works well.

edosan wrote:

Toby wrote:

Not to be boaring, but you can actually use any smooth, hard substance that does not have a sharp edge. When I couldn't find my tusk, I tried with a steel rod and it worked just as well. Since it works by compressing any small irregularities in the surface, it isn't permanent...it's actually kind of like a shoe shine....

The more polished, and the larger the diameter of the hard object, the better the performance. That's why shiny ivory works well.

Yes, but...the larger the diameter, the harder you have to press (since the force is less concentrated) and the more difficult to get into small and tight places. But too sharp and it will start to mark or tear the bamboo.

HarryHansen wrote:

I'll try it with my mammoth ivory.

Harry,

Do you just happen to have some lying around or do you actually use it in some sort of a craft? If you have a good source for buying it please let me know.

Matt