I had resolved to building a wooden pipe organ pipe as a proof of concept - I aim to build a small positive organ one day. That being said, finding out how exactly to do this is a bit of a challenge. One of the things that I found hard to independently research (in books and online that is) is how long a pipe needs to be in order to sound at the desired pitch. After finding the speed of sound and frequency of each note, I did some calculations to figure out the length of open and closed pipes.

I used 1/4" poplar boards and poplar dowels to make the toe and windway. I cut the windway on the scroll saw and drilled the channel for the toe with a drill press. Getting the angle right was based on drawings I found in a book called "The Art of Organ Building".

Here's a closeup of the windway. Eventually it gets covered with a piece that forms the lower lip of the opening. I drilled the hole first, then cut the channel on the scroll saw.

Cutting the upper lip out of this piece of poplar was tricky without a table saw. I believe I cut the bulk with a coping saw and sanded the rest. Later on I learned more about using a hand planer which would have been a better tool to use for this.

I glued everything together after I coated the inside of the pipe's body with shellac to seal any gaps in the joints. Later on I discovered the pipe had actually warped, which I suspect may have been from the shellac. To get the placement of the windway from the upper lip, I would temporarily place the lower lip (not pictured) and blow air into the pipe. I also did this to figure out how far down to sand the top of the windway.

I'll add more to this gallery soon, so be sure to check back again!