the perils of reedmaking

[dsmootz]

So, given that the pipes haven't frustrated me into setting fire within the first 8 months, I decided to try making some reeds...perhaps to eventually keep myself stocked, but at the least to know how to tweak the reeds I have with some competence. I'm only to the point of sanding the slip, which I've been at for...I don't know, an hour? I cut the slip too wide, so it's taking a while...anyway, I've had to stop for the evening since I've managed to make the thumb muscles in the palms of both hands cramp. I'm wondering whether this is a normal sensation for novice reedmakers, and if so, does it diminish with time?

[amckay]

what, no one has told you about reedmakers hand strengthening workout dvd? I got mine with a free set of steak knives (first 500 callers).

[an seanduine]

Hmmm. Thought I'd be reading about your brisk trip down to the E.R. when I saw the title. Or perhaps the inhalation of the staple in addition to any ambient sanding dust when you injudiciously sucked on your prospective reed to check for crow. . .
I probably sand more than many. but even so, you shouldn't be afraid to use your knife to split the slip down to within approximately 1 mm of your prospective width. If you're using the correct outer diameter tube with the correct sanding block, you will then seen the edges thin down to nearly a knife edge as you approach a good mid-line thickness. . .say .040 ins. or slightly less just as you approach your chosen reed head width. You can calculate the two curves, but a little work with a compass and a piece of paper will serve the same.
As an exercise in patience, I would urge you to attempt a reed made from either spruce or cedar. . .wherein you have to carve and sand both the correct iner and outer curves. . .

Bob

[pudinka]

dsmootz -

The solution to your problem(s) is simple and in two words...Barton Springs. Relax...it will happen, eventually - Rome was not built in an hour, nor eight months. Now go and slack, my son, and sin no more.

[TerryH]

Have a look at BK's method. Good news is that there is much less sanding, but requires rethinking the process to make the slip. There are several key points in the process. One is judging flexibility of the cane slip and letting the cane tell you what width the reed wants to be. Here is link to video on NPU site:
http://source.pipers.ie/Gallery.aspx?id=135

Is there space here for a testimonial?
With that one change, testing for flexibility and letting the cane tell me what width reed it wanted to be, I went from producing one mediocre reed out of one or two tubes of cane to producing one very good reed and one (sometimes two) playable reeds from one tube.

I have a Lynch chanter in D. Cane that I start with is 24mm to 26mm OD.

[Brazenkane]

Try and get to a reedmaking workshop taught by someone who has made hundreds (or more) reeds, AND can teach!!!!!!!!!

So much more will be clear then. Jim Wenham is a great teacher. He along with Dave Hegarty (a superb teacher, as well), will be teaching in Miltown Malbay. If you can't make it there... the tionols in the states are always equipped w/ a reed guru who can help.

good luck!

[Cathy Wilde]

Jim has been teaching a three-day reeds class at the St. Louis Tionol the last three or four years. He's great. If he teaches there again next April and you can get to St. Louis, you really should go. Also, he uses a "thumb" or finger plane (a violin-maker's tool) for taking the sides of the reed down to width without getting the edges too thin.

http://www.tionol.org/reedmaking.html

[dsmootz]

Sorry to be anticlimactic...if it does degenerate to the point of bleeding, I'll be sure to take pictures

I think I did just cut the slip far too wide...first time through, I'm trying to leave plenty of wiggle room. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to make more progress on this tonight. However, I'm preparing for a series of trips, culminating in a few weeks in Ireland (which is, technically, a belated honeymoon...the other trips are to other friend and family weddings)...and am having to spend most of my time wrapping things up at work, so I may not get the chance to do much reed work until I return in July. Unfortunately, all these trips are consuming all my vacation time (not to mention budget) for the year, so I can't consider a tionol until 2012.

Also, I have watched a number of NPU's vids...I so glad they put up that Source page. I'll have a look at those you recommend next, though, Terry.

[dsmootz]

Woot! I ended up losing some of the corners while sanding the scrape, so thought I'd ruined it (I'm working with a CJ Dixon chanter and reed kit...his reeds/instructions dictate pointy corners at the head/scrape end). But, I also have a Daye chanter/reed, and I noticed that his corners have a bit of an angle to them, so figuring it might work anyway, I persevered. I eventually hit a combo of scrape/bridle tension to get a crow, and then a sound out of the chanter. The tone is awful, and from D to D is more of a minor 7th than an octave, but I'm still immensely pleased with it Not sure whether to try a new one from scratch next, or try to tweak/improve this one....

[myrddinemrys]

if you're at it for a while on the sandpapering, use a grittier grain. I get everything close as I feel comfy with 60, then 100. I'm constantly flipping the slip around to make sure I'm not going too heavy on one side and it's as parallel as possible.

NPU source page is highly recommended, as is David Daye's site. I can't stress enough to find a way to get some one-on-one time with a reedmaker in your area . . . pipemakers tend to come to Irish Festivals, so find out on that. Michael Vignoles helped me big time when I met him in Dublin, OH at the festival there a few years back. good luck.

[dsmootz]

Hmmm, I just got a couple of sheets with the kit that CJ Dixon sent, and the coarser was 150, or somewhere in that range. I've got a Home Depot right across the street, so I'll go pick up a wider range (particularly coarser) before I delve further into this arcane art. I'll pick any relevant brains I come across during my stay in Ireland, and I'll be attending the O'Flaherty retreat near Dallas this October...Louise Mulcahy is the pipe instructor there, though I have no idea whether she makes her own reeds. We also have festivals in Austin in November, and Dallas in the Spring...I'll keep my eyes open for pipers who might be coming through.

[fancypiper]

I play a C 3/4 frankenset (3 different makers) and I believe/know that flat sets are easier to reed.

I use the wet/dry sandpaper that I get from automobile supply store and my coarsest is 220 grit. I rough sand with that, raise the grain by wetting and thoroughly drying it under a 40 watt incandescent lamp. Then I polish the area that forms the lips with 1000 or 2000 grit. That way I think I get more loudness at an easy to blow pressure. It seems to help with the humidity swings.

If I need a bridle to adjust lip opening, I prefer a fixed bridle just above the binding. I try to make the reeds so that the bridle is needed to close the reed. My best reeds need no bridles.

[dsmootz]

Well, it's no emergency room trip, but I've been having wrist and arm pain since my reedmaking foray...to the extent that I haven't really been able to play any of my instruments for a week and half . This is wholly unacceptable, as I'm heading for Ireland in just 4 days (and I would really like to play if I find any sessions I wouldn't be bringing down), so I went to the doctor, to be diagnosed with a carpal tunnel flare up, and be prescribed anti-inflammatories. I'm sure there a lesson to be learned here...

[myrddinemrys]

sorry to hear that. sometimes the body says "I hate you!" when you torture it and then you have to stop. sometimes it's necessary to just bite the bullet and buy a reed

[rorybbellows]

but I've been having wrist and arm pain since my reedmaking foray...to the extent that I haven't really been able to play any of my instruments for a week and half . This is wholly unacceptable...

Pipers tend to blame reeds for everything,wrist pain,bad playing,the car repossessed the wife running off with the milkman,its all the reeds fault

RORY