Reed Binding Materials

emer · Post by **emer** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 3:40 am

I have used 1mm whipping line - prewaxed synthetic line as used by sailors on ropes and sails etc,. - over PTFE tape - cheap and easy to use, 6euros for 50 metres.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:34 am

When you wrap a reed with waxed hemp the wrapping stays put.
Are synthetics as good?
Do they consist of finer threads or a monofiliment?
I envision synthetic 'hemp' would be stiffer, having less friction on the wrap and a tendancy to unravel when you start to unwrap it.

Idwood · Post by **Idwood** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 5:16 am

If you want to use dental floss - which I highly recommend - then stay away from those varieties with flavor, menthol for example. Otherwise your pipes will smell like chewing gum

Dionys · Post by **Dionys** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 10:44 am

Synthetics stay as well as hemp, so far as my experiences have gone. They are made up of finer threads.

Nyltex holds great, isn't stiff at all and has just as much, if honestly not more friction, than the different hemp/linen threads I've used. It looks very, very different but works very, very well.

Dionys

bagpipeworks · Post by **bagpipeworks** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 12:26 pm

Peter Hunter has used shrink wrap in the past for quickness, I have tried it and found the odd reed leaking past the seal it makes, so I judge it a non starter.
You can't beat the good old fashioned waxed
rayon twine, its very strong and holds together nicely and it doesn't slip back afterwards.
Hemp is good but I find that it can loosen off after a while.
When everything is fixed you can coat the whole binding in either shellac which soaks through the layers and glues evrything together, or use plumbers tape which allows you to redo things, you can undo the reed using the shellac way afterwards by soaking the twine in alcohol, but its a messy afair.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 1:22 pm

Davy, does the alcohol hurt the reed in any way?
I sealed a reed (both reed slips and wrapping) with nail polish. It was a spare reed that was marginal, at best. The polish killed the tone of the reed completely, so I used acetone to loosen the hemp and clean off the slips. I re-wrapped the reed and it brought the reed back to life better than before the experiment.

AlanB · Post by **AlanB** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 3:58 pm

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Sun Sep 29, 2002 3:44 am

Hemp...alcohol...meth...?

Quite a thread.

marcpipes · Post by **marcpipes** » Sun Sep 29, 2002 10:13 am

We all have our crutches.
Marc

Roger O'Keeffe · Post by **Roger O'Keeffe** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 8:16 am

Not to mention the whipping line. Can I join?

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 2:24 am

emer wrote:I have used 1mm whipping line - prewaxed synthetic line as used by sailors on ropes and sails etc,. - over PTFE tape - cheap and easy to use, 6euros for 50 metres.

I'm bringing this topic back to life... again.

I was on the line with Ian Mackenzie talking about... pipes!
In the conversation, I mentioned the various posts about the pre-waxed synthetic thread. His comment was there are many different ways to bind a reed. His recipe (which comes from a 1940's book on reedmaking) is to use pitch (black tar) mixed with beeswax on doubled crochet thread. It's really strong and the tar makes it stick like 'sh*t to a blanket' giving it fantistic grip to stay put, yet has the ability to be unwound should you want to rebind the slips.

I have a reed in my Wooff chanter that's outer wrapped in PTFE that works and even gives a compression fit when plugged into the chanter socket, different than waxed hemp.

Scott McCallister · Post by **Scott McCallister** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 7:56 am

I use Plumbers tape and then UNWAXED nylon carpet or upholstery thread.. Tape seals it up and the thread holds it down. I start both at the end of the staple. The PFTE keeps the thread in place and I can get a nice tight wind. Just a spot of duco cement or any other quick drying epoxy at the top of the wind to keep it from unraveling and another spot at the end of the thread loosly spiraled back down at the staple to form the dry wind. Another few winds of PFTE around the dry wind and it seals nicely in the chanter

stew · Post by **stew** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 2:09 pm

Tony,
I use white heat shrink to seal the staple the last 19.20mm I leave
to insert in to the reed head then I whip it up with waxed 100% Polvester thread and seal it up with p.t.f.e seal thread tape never
had any problems yet

quick and easy

Islandpiper · Post by **Islandpiper** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 4:53 pm

The traditional sealing/wrapping in oboe and bassoon reeds has been "gold-beaters skin". Does anyone else use this for UP reeds? It is easy to apply, and seals and adheres naturally, being an organic material.

Dionys · Post by **Dionys** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 8:23 am

It certainly sounds interesting and I'll have to give it a try. How is it applied/used in an oboe/bassoon reed?

Dionys

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Reed Binding Materials

regarding teflon tape