Woods

Spiritsong Flutes is very proud to offer you some of the best Australian Woods that suit flute making and is committed to sourcing only sustainably grown and harvested woods, as well as quality recycled and salvaged woods as they become available. Great effort and time have been spent to find these supplies and to build these relationships, which we are proud to be part of. We know it would not feel right to support the logging of forests that are already seriously mismanaged and in many cases illegaly. We thank our partners for the supply of quality musical grade woods and their committed ethical approach to sustainability; they truly are leaders in an industry that is seriously out of balance. Without them we could not make this choice to offer to you. So thank you.

We have now added some new woods to our lists, due to supplies and sizes available we may not be able to supply some keys in some of our woods, and due to limited stock we may run out temporarily. There will always be other great woods to choose as our range is always growing.

We believe there are so many good sources of eco-friendly wood as well as great amounts of wood just sitting around unused or about to be wasted that it is pointless to support mad logging companies and importation of trendy exotic foreign species, to make flutes. Why not make the most of this resource and honor trees by leaving them to be. Our Planet needs them. Or even better lets plant a few or fifty.

These are the main woods available.

Hoop Pine- Araucaria Cunninghamii. Confusing name because it's not actually a pine. An Australian indigenous soft wood that is both light, strong and attractive, a great flute making wood growing in the rainforests local to where I live in Northern NSW.

Red Cedar - Toona Ciliata. A very attractive deep red softwood, known as red gold because of its high quality for making just about anything, sadly leading to it becoming near extinct as it was over logged around the early 1900’s. It is now extremely rare and hard to grow as a moth likes to attack it when young. It is a great flute wood with a bright warm sound like Western Red Cedar. Very aromatic. Add $10

Illawara Plum - Podocarpus Aureus. Podocarpus and the Podocarpaceae were endemic to the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which broke up into Africa, South America, India, Australia-New Guinea, New Zealand, and New Caledonia between 105 and 45 million years ago. Podocarpus is a characteristic tree of the Antarctic flora, which originated in the cool, moist climate of southern Gondwana, and elements of the flora survive in the humid temperate regions of the former supercontinent. A very amazing wood, hard but light, was used to make violins, very hard to work, has sharp clear sound. One of my favorite Aussie flute woods. Very rare. Add $10

Silky Oak - Grevillea Robusta. Grows to 40 m. Diameter to 1 m. Pinkish to reddish-brown. Texture iscoarse, even with oak-like rays, silky lustre.In its native environment Silky Oak is a rainforest tree along the coastal rivers of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. It is now relatively rare in its natural state, however it is very adaptable and is frequently found in many cities and towns of Australia as an ornamental tree in streets and gardens. It is a very attractive tree with a pyramidal shape, giving good shade and is a magnificent spectacle in spring when it is in flower.
The wood of Silky Oak is very similar to Northern Silky Oak, Cardwellia sublimis, and both are highly sought after for cabinetmaking. It has been planted as a shade tree in plantations in India and Sri Lanka (tea), South Africa (banana) and New Guinea (coffee).Makes lovely warm tone flutes like cedar. Add $10

Camphor - Cinnamomum Camphora. Camphor Laurel was introduced to Australia in 1822 as an ornamental tree for use in gardens and public parks. It has however become a weed throughout Queensland and northern New South Wales where it is suited to the wet, subtropical climate. There are many being cut down all the time. It is perfectly suited, like cedar but with a stronger grain that is very attractive especially when you get colour variations. Warm, mellow, strong sound, very aromatic.

Queensland Maple - Flindersia Brayleyana. Very attractive pink to brownish wood with an interlocking grain, medium density wood makes lovely flutes with a sharp strong sound.

Flooded Gum - Eucalyptus Grandis. A straight trunk tree with smooth bark, white, grey-white or blue-grey in colour. Very popular subspecies in the eucalyptus family. Can grow to massive sizes in the forest with big burls. I have planted many of them on my property for shade and screening. A nice wood for flutes has a medium brightness, but rich strong sound. A popular choice for many people.

Australian Rosewood - Dysoxylum fraseranum. Grows to 40 m The colour isa deep red-brown heartwood, sapwood much paler. Uniform texture sometimes with an interlocked grain. This eastern coast rainforest tree has been banned from being logged in New South Wales state forests due to past over cutting. Some timber though is occasionally available on the market which would either have come from private land or from trees which have either fallen down in a state forest or have had to be removed because of some extenuating circumstance.
It is a beautiful deep red timber which has a distinctive rose-like odour from which it gets its common name. It makes great flutes with a lovelly hardwood sound quality. Add $20

Blue Gum - Eucalyptus Saligna. Grows to 50 m. Diameter to: 2.0 m. The Colour is Pale pink to Pinkish Red. The grain is open textured, hard and fairly difficult to work.
Sydney Blue Gum is a majestic white-trunked forest tree where annual rainfall is 900 - 1800 mm. along the coastal belt of New South Wales and into southern Queensland mostly within 200 km. of the coast. It merges into rainforest areas but is not a true rainforest tree and is of similar character to Rose Gum, Eucalyptus Grandis, with which it is often confused. In contrast to Rose Gum, Sydney Blue Gum is seldom found in pure stands and its timber is harder and stronger. With the advent of hardened steel tools, the wood is being more extensively explored as a cabinet timber and is becoming more sought after by present day craftspersons. This is some great Aussie wood for flute making. This premium kiln dried timber has a really strong clear sound and tone. Add $15

Queensland Silver Ash - Flindersia Bourjotiana. Grows to 35 m. Diameter to 1.0 m.Pale yellow to almost whitish silver. Texture is even. Grain is variable with ocasional figure. The common name is in reference to the similarity of its timber to the northern hemisphere Ash tree. Its habitat is the rainforests of the coast of far north Queensland. Its timber is a beautiful colour and very suitable for flutes with a clear but warm unique sound. Add $15

Silver quandong - Elaeocarpus grandis. A tall tree attaining height of 35 m and a stem diameter up to 2 m. The stem is prominently buttressed at the base and covered with a grey, smooth, slightly wrinkled bark. The older leaves turn bright red before being shed and this is a distinctive species recognition feature in the forest. This species occurs along the eastern coast of Australia, most commonly between Taree, New South Wales and Maryborough, Queensland. Small populations also occur on the Eungella Range and between Ingham and Cooktown. A disjunct stand occurs beside the mouth of the Daly River, Northern Territory. Timber of this species is now of limited commercial availability, although there is interest from Farm Forestry groups in establishing plantations of silver quandong. The heartwood is generally white to cream white. In some cases it can have greyish or light brownish tones. There is no noticeable colour difference between sapwood and heartwood. Very nice flute wood, definantly one of my favourites for its sound quality. Carves well by hand too so it’s a favourite for whittling. Add $15

HUON PINE - Lagarostrobos franklini.
(Please enquire for availability as stock is very limited)
Height to 30 m. Diameter to: 1.0 m. Pale yellow. Usually straight grained. Fairly strong characteristic odour. Firm soft timber. Huon Pine is ancient and extremely rare. It is found mainly in swampy or moist soils of the river flats in south-western Tasmania and is endemic to that area. It is usually 20m. or so high, but has been known to grow to 38 m., and has a slightly rough grey bark which, having been hewn, will weather to a beautiful silver colour. It is an extremely slow growing tree which can take 600 years or more to reach maturity. It is one of the few conifers which, when a branch touches the ground and becomes covered, will form roots from which a tree sprouts.
In 1994 a single tree (meaning one organism which has the same DNA structure) covering more than a hectare in area, was discovered which may be up to 10,500 years old. Whatever its age is finally worked out to be, it is suspected that it could possibly be the oldest living organism on earth. The tree contains an essential oil, methyl eugenol, which gives the wood its characteristic smell, repels insects and makes it very durable. Logs which have been buried in the ground for hundreds of years have been found to be usable because of this oil. Huon is a very sought after timber by craftspersons and designer/makers and is in extremely short supply. Lovely rare and famous wood, makes superb flutes. Add $40

Other woods are available in limited quantities, these are put aside as rare one-off pieces for custom projects. Please ask me if you would like me to make your flute with some of this wood. Also if you have wood you want to see recycled into a flute, this is also a possibility.