Whittling Whistles

To make a wooden whistle you will need a stick that is seasoned (i.e. completely dry) rather than the green wood that I recommend for other whittling projects.  You can use hazel, sycamore, silver birch or any fruit-wood (I used hazel).  The stick will need to be 15 – 20 mm in diameter and 100 – 150 mm long.

 

 

 

 

You will also need a work bench or vice and a drill for this project (we have got some hand drills at school but I forgot to bring one home with me so I’m using my electric drill).

 

 

 

 

Secure your stick in the work bench or vice and drill a hole at one end using an 8 mm drill bit.  Make the hole between 40 and 50 mm deep (I measured this on my drill bit before drilling and used a piece of masking tape to mark how deep I needed to go).

 

 

 

 

Measure about 15 mm from the drilled end and make a vertical cut across the side of the stick that just cuts into the side of the hole you have drilled.  I used a small pruning saw to do this but you can use your knife.

 

 

 

 

Now make a shallow, sloping wedge cut towards the vertical cut.  This second cut should be at around 45 degrees, to create a wedge shape and should break into the hole you drilled.  Always wear your cut resistant glove when using the knife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut another small stick (I used sycamore this time) and cut it into quarters, down the grain, using a small axe or hatchet (you can use a piece of ready made dowel but I didn’t have any).  Use your knife to whittle this sick into a roughly circular rod.  Check to see if it is just slightly larger than the hole you have drilled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trim one end of your small rod or dowel to make it square and flatten it off a little at one side.  This is called the fipple and determines the tone of your whistle.

 

 

 

 

Insert the fipple into the mouthpiece until the square end is level with the vertical cut.  It should fit tightly into the hole and there should be a narrow space (the windway) in between the flat side of the fipple and the hole.

 

 

 

 

 

You can now try your whistle, adjusting the fipple until you get the sound you want.  You may have to clean up any rough edges around the hole with sandpaper and fiddle about with the fipple before you get it right.  Once you are happy with the sound, carefully, trim off the end of the fipple so that it is level with the end of the whistle (I used my saw for this).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shape the mouthpiece so that it is comfortable, ensuring that you don’t break into the drilled hole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you like you can cut your whistle to the length you want, trim the end and drill a hole to fit a keyring.  Finish with a coat of olive oil or varnish.

 

 

 

 

Hi Everyone,

Meet Fire, the friendly monster! She lives in the sky and her favourite food is grass and she likes to drink water 💦. She is red and breathes fire. She is a happy monster and I love her. Fire is scared of the dark so she breaths fire to see where she is flying. Mena

 

Hi Miss Stapleton, Miss Brockie- Donald, Mrs Madden and Miss Pattie.

Here is my picture of Arwen the elf. She is the elf princess in the lord of the rings book 📖. I like her because she is an elf who fights,she is also brave,she is magical. She is my favourite character.  Mena

 

Big Thursday!

Big Thursday Tasks 3.

Activities on the learning pages for music, art, computer science and Outdoor / STEM.

Have Fun!

Today I went on a walk in the Crichton. Me and my dad found a sundial. A sundial tells the time by the sun.  A sundial is a device that tells the time of day by measuring this apparent movement of the sun accurately. Sundials are quite hard to read but when you get the hang of it’s not that hard. That wraps up today blog bye. By Orla. 

Spelling for our test and writing tomorrow, worked on our maths and area challenge then we spent the afternoon skipping in the sun!

Today I learnt about humming birds. They are very interesting. I read a book and watched a film about them. I wrote down ten facts. Here are some.

There are 315 different kinds of humming bird.

Humming birds have very weak feet and can barely walk. They prefer to fly or perch most of their lives.

A humming bird’s is 4.2%. It’s body weight is the largest proportion in the animal kingdom.

I helped make Yorkshire puddings today.

I hope you all like my facts and find out about humming birds too. There is a blackbird nesting in our hedge at the moment so I put some bread out for the babies this morning.

See you soon, love from  Tanith xx 🐦

 

Hi, Caspian is back!

Today my first lesson was science – I had to find out what happens to our bodies if we don’t include fruit and vegetables in our daily diet. Usually I only eat meat even though Mum is always begging me to eat fruit and vegetables.  I watched a documentary on Life Noggin about nutrition and I found out that if you don’t eat fruit and veg, you will start vomiting a lot , grow a lot of wrinkles and age super quickly. I paused the video and quickly got an apple as I was freaked out by the side effects of not eating properly. Mum is very relieved as she has been trying to get me to eat properly for a very long time. (I still don’t like carrots though!) I wrote down the side effects then got carried away and watched loads more Life Noggin documentaries after I finished off the rest of my work.

Mum made the most delicious tea. We had roast pork with all the trimmings.

Goodbye, see you tomorrow!

Running out of paper?

Need some coloured pencils?

Ask your parents to read the latest Home Newsletter and e-mail the school office.

We’ll get resources sorted and out to families next week!

Thanks, Miss Dale

Hi everybody. Today I had a day off because it was a nice day and warm outside. My nana helped me make a little tent for me to play in. I’ve had lots of fun playing in the garden and I made a little bug house. It had an ant, a beetle and another bug I don’t know what it was. Tomorrow I’ll get back to my class work. Also Mrs Dale phoned to ask if we were all OK and if we needed anything.