Maknig a didjeridoo from a christmass tree. Bore out method

 This is a basic Lesson in boring out a christmass tree.Taking this most comon of holiday waste and repurposing it for your own non christmas need. + you get to evicerate a christmas tree :D, take all that christmas cheer youve had to endure for the month of december and rip apart an 8 foot spruce,it will cleanse the palat of the sachrine sweetness of this overly comercial holiday.
  As with all endeavors of this sort there is a wide margin for error and often there is failure and disapointment. But dont fret,this is part of the process. We learn from these failures even if we do everything right and we still fail, we learn. So not to spoil the ending here but... This atempt crashed and burned in the end. But Im still creating an instructable for you to learn from and take what you will. Some of this is me playing with new tools but the method is tried true and quick. succes rate with it can be 50/50 though or worse or much much much better.Even with failures at this number its a faster method than any other for make a didje from a solid branch or tree. and your failure rate really depends on the wood and what it will do and its basic line/straightness, and your willingness to push your luck in the hopes of geting a better instrument.

im posting this as is for now. I will revise a bit later add a tool list and clean up few things gramar spelling and things that dont make sense. hope you enjoy.

Step 1

select a tree. shortly after christmas their plentyful in the trash.  the one i snaged was about 8ft. Its not about length here. Its about girth and taper for your selection.  This tree had a 4inch wide base great for what were doing. But if your going to try this method of didj making i wouldnt recomend one much under 3 inches.an average finished Didj isnt usualy longer than 5ft. So if your planing on making one this long make sure theres more than 2inches of thickness on the  end that will eventualy be the mouth piece. 

Comments

[friger]

I built a Diji from a Spruce tree about 10 years ago, I know the pain you were feeling when the drill burst out the side. Next time you might try what is called a bare foot auger. It is an auger bit that doesn't have a lead screw of any type. What happens is the lead screw or brad point will, as you correctly mentioned, follow the path of least resistance, that is usually a grain line along the less dense sap wood. Drill a short pilot hole with the regular auger bit first then change to the bare foot. This will require more brute force on your part but will yield more favorable results.

you could also, as I did , split the tree in half length wise and carve out the hole, then glue it back together.

[8footape]

yeah the whole phalus thing is acurate with the old taboos. ha.
Born an raised in Florida. havent left the states either.
An ive got another piece i started along time ago that i can hopefully get up here to show the process to finish.

[l8nite]

man that really really SUCKS ! You had a great "ible" and project going only to have fate throw you a curve, but you still shared the results and I think thats fantastic . Im sure we've all had our share of projects that didn't work out and really aggravate us, some aggravate us even when they DO work out ! I hope you get one finished so you can show us the rest of your procedures

[alexsolex]

I know two stories about women and didgeridoos.
One is because of the profile of the digeridoo which looks like a phalus and so, women are forbidden to play.
An other one is about the fact that playing didgeridoo ask a lot of work to the lungs and the diaphragm. Aboriginal people believe that playing to much didgeridoo can be dangerous for babies a mother carry in her belly.

@8footape :
where are you from ? I find very funny to find people that like didgeridoo from so many countries. I'm french and I love playing didgeridoo. I went to australia for a 3 months holidays, and backpackers calls me "the white aboriginal". I loved this and it was a honor for me to be such named :)

I would love to see picture of eucaplytus christmas tree !

[8footape]

women play the didjeridoo. culturaly there used to be a taboo. sure ya can post a pic

[bertus52x11]

Finally a useful purpose for the old Christmas tree!
Here at home I have a "Boofadoo", I once bought in France (they really call it that way). It's much like a didjeridoo only slightly smaller (1 meter). It is used to blow air into your fireplace or BBQ without getting your face burned. I always wondered how they were made, but now I know.
If you like, I can post a pic.

BTW, Is it true that only men can play the didjeridoo?