It’s Friday before Labor Day Weekend. I am heading out to the workshop in a few minutes to ut the finishing touches on some keyed flutes and finish up two keyless. The weekend will be spent working around the workshop which is getting a badly-needed new roof in a few weeks. I also will be working on my wood storage etc. for the tools that I am about to bring in there. If I get a chance, maybe go for a hike somewhere. Its nice that the really hot days are behind us.
Yesterday after our internet was back up and functional I wanted to be as far away from it as possible I finally made it up to Port Townsend and stopped in at the Bottle Zone (see https://www.facebook.com/russdigger) and collected some antique bottles for research. I am almost 90% convinced that Laurent’s glass workers formed the glass for his flutes using methods similar to bottle making where a gather of glass is blown into a mold, either one or two part. The glass then is annealed, sometimes along with the mold if made from ceramic. Coldworking techniques finish the glass, especially the bore which has to be ground to shape. With enough practice, the bore can be approximated reducing the amount of glass required.
To do this all I will need is a crucible that fits into my Glass Hive Kiln, the molds which I’ll make, a blowpipe and an annealing kiln. It should not take too long to learn the hang of that.
The Western Flyer is an old fishing boat originally built in Tacoma that was sailed out of Monterey as part of the Sardine Fleet in its early life. This is the boat that Steinbeck chartered for he and his friend the marine biologist Edward F. Ricketts. Ricketts was Steinbeck’s friend, and template for the character “Doc” in Cannery Row. In 1942 they, along with others, travelled in this boat to Cabo and up the Sea of Cortez, and wrote about this in a book by the same title as their destination. Much of the book was written by Ricketts, and polished to readability by Steinbeck.
In later years this boat passed through several hands, eventually landing in Mt. Vernon WA where it was owned by the Deadliest Catch people. They kind of abused it and it sank and ended up on the bottom. Eventually it was sold and hauled to the boat yard in Port Townsend. That person wanted the cabin removed and was going to use that as a restaurant display somewhere in Salinas. But then some people got together and did some fundraising. The boat has been going through a “One Stud Remodel” at the Port Townsend Shipwrights’ Coop where much of the boat has been replaced with new wood and metal, but following the lines of the original. The hull uses 17 pieces from the original Western Flyer. The cabin however, was intact enough to restore. The engine etc. will be all new. This boat will be turned into a floating marine laboratory and school eventually.
As to the original parts that were discarded, some of the wood ended up in Ventura where someone incorporates it into “Western Flyer Surfboards”. I have some chunks of timbers that I have shared with others, including artist Ray Troll and paleontologist Kirk Johnson (head of the Smithsonian MNH). My marine biologist friends and others who are fans of Steinbeck and/or Ricketts love having a fragment of what we call the One True Boat.
Stockholm Syndrome: This was the flute that I got at a local auction house in Port Orchard last summer for the stunning total of $66.58. It’s from around 1820 and made in Stockholm. It’s set up like a late Baroque/ Early classical flute With the addition of a very clever eight key flat pad arrangement arrangement (sorry for the photo delay. Doing this over the phone sucks! My internet is back up with a new modem. The old one lasted about a year.)