An Inexpensive Cane Scoring Tool

Posts Tagged ‘reeds’

An Inexpensive Cane Scoring Tool

Sep 2nd, 13 / 12 Comments

Scoring is the process of cutting a number of parallel vertical lines in the bark a piece of gouged, shaped, and profiled cane. These cuts make it easier to form the cane into a cylindrical tube and help prevent cracking during the forming process. Different reed makers have various theories of scoring, involving different numbers, spacing, length, and depth of score marks. There is also quite a variety of tools one can choose from to actually perform the scoring, ranging from a $4 utility knife to Rieger’s €946 scoring machine. The tool I have used for years is close to the inexpensive end of this spectrum. It is simply a tap (a tool for cutting screw threads) mounted in a file handle.

Left: file handle and tap. Right: assembled scoring tool.

I certainly can’t claim to have invented this — I saw Professor James Lotz at Tennessee Tech University demonstrate such a tool when I was a budding reed maker in high school. Miller Marketing also sells a scoring tool that looks to be basically the same thing, made by 2XReed. I don’t remember what the original tap and handle cost (I’ve been using the same scoring tool for about 15 years). But I recently made a second one to keep in my office, and the parts came to a whopping $8. Here are a tap and handle similar to the ones that I recently purchased. If you’re lucky, the tap will just fit snugly in the handle — my first tool went together that way with a simple friction fit. If you’re unlucky (as I was with my recent parts), you’ll have to glue the tap into the handle to keep it in place. No big deal. There are probably higher quality file handles out there with more consistent construction, but this is what my local hardware store had.

Detail of the tap

The specific size of the tap isn’t critical — you just need something with cutting teeth (close up at right) with the spacing you want to achieve in your scoring lines. I use a tap for cutting 10–24 threads; the 2XReed tap looks bigger. If you actually buy your tap at a hardware store rather than online, you can just looks at all the different choices and pick one that looks right to you.

To use the tool, first put your piece of cane on an easel. Then, hold the tool perpendicular to the cane at the point you want to start your score lines — I like to start just above the second wire. Make sure that you have the edge of one set of cutting teeth lined up to dig into the cane, apply a bit of pressure, and draw the tool straight down your cane. I like to plant my thumb on the back end of the easel and use a sort of closing-the-hand motion to help keep my lines straight. One pass with the tool with score about half the width of the cane. To score the other side, just repeat the action on the other side. You can put one tooth of the scoring tool the last existing line to keep the proper spacing and direction of your score marks. I’ve thrown together a quick animation of the scoring process:

Click to see an animation of the scoring process

Cane after a couple of passes with the tool

And there you have it: eight or nine perfectly parallel score marks in a matter of a few seconds. Above right you can see a piece of cane after a couple of passes with the scoring tool. I went a little too high on the left side of this piece of cane, but it’s not a big deal. It does take a little practice to align the cutting teeth properly, and also to make the first cut perfectly straight. But getting the hang of it doesn’t take very long, and pretty quickly you’ll be getting very consistent results. The one drawback of this method is that it doesn’t quite cut as deeply as I’d like; I like my scoring to go all the way through the cane at the back end. So, I typically deepen the marks with a utility knife — another pretty quick operation.

bassoon, diy, reeds, tools

The $3 Bassoon Reed Case

Apr 17th, 13 / 10 Comments

The $3 Reed Case

I have a number of nice reed cases: a leather-covered three-reed case that came with my bassoon, a nine-reed wooden case by Wiseman, and a couple of beautiful maple cases by Roger Garrett. But I always seem to need more little boxes for transporting reeds for students, stashing French or period bassoon reeds, or just to hold overflow from my other cases. My go-to for this sort of thing is the tried-and-true Altoids tin. But Altoids tins are just slightly the wrong dimensions to be a truly space-efficient reed case, and as a result I’ve always got my eye out for other little tins or boxes. Vermints tins are a marked improvement (they’re a bit wider and shallower than Altoids tins). But I recently stumbled across some little hinged plastic boxes at the Container Store that are nearly perfect.

Reed Case Tools and Materials

Best of all, they’re only $2 a pop. Add a ~$1 sheet of foam from a craft store and some tools you almost certainly already have lying around, and you’ve got a seven-reed case for about $3. Here’s all you’ll need to make one:

Materials:

black foam sheet (5–6mm thick)
medium hinged box

Tools:

Duco cement
X‑acto or utility knife
ruler

You can buy specially-made strips of reed foam from Reeds ‘n Stuff. I’ve used them, and they work well. But the foam holders in my Wiseman case hold reeds in a more compact fashion, so I decided to basically copy that design for this case. The Wiseman foam isn’t a purpose-made strip but is actually made up of multiple little pieces glued together: tall pieces to go between reeds, short pieces to go under them, and long strips at the top and bottom to hold it all together. Using that method I can fit seven reeds in this 94mm-wide plastic case; the Reeds ‘n Stuff strip would only fit five in the same space.

Empty Box and Foam Pieces

The first step is to cut little pieces out of the foam sheet. The precise dimensions will depend on the thickness of your foam — mine is 5mm thick. I decided to make the top and bottom strips 6mm wide and the entire center assembly 15mm wide. The center assembly is made up of eight 12mm x 15mm blocks (placed vertically) and seven 7mm x 15mm blocks (placed horizontally). I neglected to get a good picture of the foam assembly itself, but you should be able to figure out how it’s put together from the finished case pictures.

After I cut out all the foam bits, I did a dry fit in the plastic box. I hadn’t accounted for the box’s beveled edges, so I had to trim a bit of foam off the corners of the end pieces. After a little trial and error, I had everything fitting snugly. I made sure the foam assembly was squared up to the edges of the box, and then I used my knife to lightly score the box’s bottom to mark the foam’s position. I removed the foam, and then used some sandpaper to rough up the plastic where the foam would be glued in. The box’s surface is very smooth, so roughing it up a bit provides the glue with a better surface to which to adhere.

Then, it’s just a matter of applying glue to the box and to the appropriate areas of each piece of foam (where they’ll contact the box or other foam), and assembling it all. I put in the upper narrow strip first, then built the center assembly from left to right, then applied the bottom narrow strip to square it all up. I cut some more bits of foam in basically a reverse pattern so that closing the case clamped it all together while the glue dried. I picked Duco because that’s something we bassoonists tend to have lying around, but cyanoacrylate (super glue) may actually be a better choice for this sort of plastic. Time will tell if I need to re-glue anything.

Since I’m planning to use this as an auxiliary reed case, I didn’t bother punching any holes in it. But if you plan to use one of these on a day-to-day basis and anticipate putting your reeds away wet, you should provide it with some form of ventilation. I bet a soldering iron could melt nice little air holes in this plastic — don’t breathe in the fumes, though.

Two Views of the Finished Case

One note about using this case: the reeds are so close together that you have to tilt them slightly to fit them all in (you can see the tilting and overlap in the photo above). I’ve done this for years with my Wiseman case, but it might seem a little strange if you’ve never done it before. There’s plenty of vertical clearance on both sides for the reeds to sit safely this way, and if you treat both reeds and case with the proper care, this configuration shouldn’t cause any problems.

bassoon, diy, reeds

My Daily Tool Kit

Jul 30th, 12 / 3 Comments

In a previous post, I set out the basic tools and materials that I like my students to have. These are all necessary for my method and style of reed making, but I don’t need all of them every day. I keep a streamlined set of tools in my bassoon case for the daily business of finishing and adjusting reeds. I’ve spent a good deal of time figuring out what I truly need to carry with me, and have acquired alternate versions of some tools to keep my kit as compact as possible. My kit also contains a couple of items for quick instrument fixes. I gave sources for some of these in my post on basic reed tools, so I’ll only provide links for the new items.

Utility Knife — My big Stanley knife is pain to haul around, so I carry this svelte Gerber EAB folding knife instead.
Source: Amazon
Pliers — Forming pliers aren’t necessary for daily adjustments, so I carry this small pair of Craftsman needle nose pliers instead.
Source: Sears
Reed Knife — I like this folding Fox knife for its small size.
Source: Midwest Musical Imports
Honing Steel — Regular use of this Victorinox steel (made for pocket knives and remounted in a file handle by me) lets me sharpen my knife a little less frequently.
Source: Smoky Mountain Knife Works (or find one on eBay)
Emery Board — Half of a wide coarse board fits here nicely.
Cutting Block — I prefer trimming reeds with my Reeds ‘n Stuff guillotine, but this and a utility knife will do in a pinch.
Screwdrivers — These two jeweler’s-style flathead screwdrivers came with my Püchner, but can be easily obtained elsewhere.
Files — Just round and flat for daily use.
Plaque — Big, plastic, and red. Easy to see if you drop it onstage or in a dark pit. Large enough to use for contra reeds, too.
Short (Holding) Mandrel — Fox: simple and compact.
Toothbrush Head — For quickly cleaning shavings out of the reamer.
Source: any drug store
Reamer — My trusty Rieger.
Sandpaper — A stack of small rectangles (cut from a larger sheet) of 320 grit wet/dry lasts a while.
Caliper — great for making repeated measurements on different reeds.
Source: Sears
Ruler — Although I mostly use the small caliper above, this small six-inch ruler takes up almost no space and comes in handy from time to time as well.
Source: Office Depot
Spring Hook — I made this out of a big paper clip years ago, and haven’t yet felt the need to upgrade to the real thing.
Source: your desk drawer

All together, these tools cover about 99% of what I’ll ever have to do during a rehearsal or practice session. I wish I could carry my guillotine with me, but it’s just too big. As you can see below, all the tools I’ve listed above fit comfortably into my leather tool wallet, which itself fits very nicely into the accessory pouch of my Marcus Bonna Gentleman’s case. No cramming necessary!

bassoon, for students, reeds, tools

Basic Reed Tools

Jun 2nd, 12 / 0 Comments

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been corresponding with one of my incoming freshmen about what reed tools and materials he’ll need when he arrives at school in the fall. This has inspired me to assemble a real list of the equipment that I want a beginning reed maker to have. I’ve combed the three double reed specialty shops that I typically do business with (Forrests Music, Midwest Musical Imports, and Miller Marketing) along with a few national chains (Ace Hardware, Home Depot, and Walgreens) for the best prices on my recommended items. There are a couple of things that I recommend getting from Barrick Stees and Christlieb Products, as well. For most items I’ve also listed other options, in case you’d like to buy a better knife, or save on shipping by ordering from fewer merchants. I won’t go through exactly how I use all of these now — that’s a topic for another post.

Pliers

Forming pliers (with a smooth hole in the jaws for shaping the tube of the reed) are a specialty item, and there aren’t too many choices in brands. I prefer the orange handled Knipex/Rieger version. These have larger handles than some of the others, and are very well made. They also happen to be the least expensive of the bunch.

Best Price: $45, Miller Marketing (RBPLRS)
Other Sources: Forrests Music (#E‑29), Midwest Musical Imports

Reed Knife

I own a a few different knives, and each one has things I like and things I don’t. I think all that really matters is that you find something that fits your hand comfortably and that you can keep sharp relatively easily.

Best Price: $24, Midwest Musical Imports (Rigotti straight knife)
Other Knives: Midwest Musical Imports, Forrests Music, Miller Marketing

Utility Knife

Any basic utility knife will do. I like the kind that take the standard trapezoidal blades, rather than the ones with sectioned snap-off blades. These (along with extra blades) should be easy to find at any hardware store. My standard knife is a beefy-handled retractable Stanley that holds extra blades inside.

Best Price: $4.48, Home Depot
Other Sources: Ace Hardware

Short (Holding) Mandrel

I have a couple of these, one by Fox and one by Rigotti. There are many other brands to choose from, too — all that really matters is that you find one that’s confortable in your hand.

Best Price: $15, Miller Marketing (2X Reed Mandrel)
Other Mandrels: Forrests Music, Midwest Musical Imports

Plaque

I hate the sound a knife makes when it scrapes on a metal plaque, so I stick to plastic ones. Again, I have a few of these, but my favorite is a big red one that also works for contra reeds and is easy to spot when (not if) you drop it in a dark pit.

Best Price: $2, Forrests Music (#G‑21)
Other Sources: Midwest Musical Imports

Reamer

Good reamers are sharp, have multiple fluted spiral blades, and are precisely made to match the taper of a bocal. As a result, they aren’t cheap. Reamers get infrequent enough use that a new student can subsist for awhile by borrowing those of his or her studiomates. But anyone doing serious reed making will need one eventually. I like my Rieger reamer, but there are good reamers for a little less money, too.

Best Price: $79, Miller Marketing (Miller Marketing Pro Spiral Reamer) or $80, Barrick Stees
Other Reamers: Midwest Musical Imports, Forrests Music (#E‑31)

Handheld Torch

I like to heat my forming mandrels before using them (to make the cane more pliable during forming), and have found a small handheld butane torch to be the best heat source. These come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and prices. Mine is an inexpensive hardware store model that simply takes butane lighters as cartridges. This is another item that can be borrowed from studiomates initially, if necessary.

Best Price: $20, Home Depot
Other Torches: Home Depot, Ace Hardware 1, Ace Hardware 2

Forming Mandrels/Drying Rack

I like to form reeds on long mandrels, then allow them to dry before removing them. My pins, which I love, were made by Accurate. Sadly, they’ve now gone out of business, but you can buy similar racks/pins from others.

Best Price: $75, Christlieb Products (6D Chucked Handle ‑and- 7A1 Drying Board w/Brass Forming Mandrel Tips)
Another Option: Miller Marketing (2XMS Reed Forming Mandrel Set)

Easel

My easel is just a six-inch section of tool handle that my undergraduate teacher, Dr. Jeffrey Lyman, cut for me. A 1.25″ dowel will work too, but I prefer the higher-density tool handle wood. You can get very nice purpose-made easels too, but I’ve never seen the need to shell out for one.

Best Price: $1.50, Home Depot ($12 tool handle, can be cut into at least 8 easels)
Other Options: Ace Hardware (another tool handle), Midwest Musical Imports, Forrests Music

Measuring Device

The cheapest and easiest to find is a simple six-inch ruler — just make sure that it has millimeter markings.

Best Price: $2, Home Depot
Other Sources: Midwest Musical Imports, Forrests Music (#R‑05)

Files

Some people make extensive use of files in their reed making; I don’t. I use a round file most often, and occasionally pick up my flat and triangular files, too. You can buy very nice diamond files individually, or get a six-pack of assorted files from most hardware stores. A word of warning — be sure to wash your files before use. They often have residual machining oils that will make your reeds taste awful.

Best Price: $9.40, Forrests Music (#E‑26)
Other Sources: Midwest Musical Imports, Miller Marketing, Ace Hardware, Home Depot

Sandpaper

One package of 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper (usually black or dark grey) will last quite awhile.

Best Price: $6, Home Depot

Emery Boards

Coarse emery boards work like sanding blocks (providing a rigid sanding surface), but are less expensive, easier to manage, and more compact.

Best Price: $2, Walgreens

Cutting Block

A surface to use when trimming the tips of reeds. A block with a diameter greater than 1 inch is best for bassoon reeds.

Best Price: $11, Midwest Musical Imports
Other Blocks: Forrests Music, Midwest Musical Imports

Cotton String

Another hardware store item — I use thick cotton string to wrap cane during the forming process.

Best Price: $3, Home Depot

22 Gauge Brass Wire

Sometimes you can find this in a hardware store — make sure it’s 22 gauge, though! Larger spools can be ordered from pretty much any double reed supplier.

Price: $8–30, depending on how large a spool you buy
Sources: Forrests Music (#G‑05), Midwest Musical Imports, Miller Marketing

Reed Tying Thread

I prefer nylon size FF thread. This also is available from most double reed shops — in lots of colors!

Price: $6.50–10, depending on brand
Sources: Miller Marketing, Forrests Music, Midwest Musical Imports

Duco Cement

The old standby reed adhesive. Duco is available in both metal tubes and plastic bottles — which you buy is a matter of personal preference and what your store stocks.

Best Price: $3, Miller Marketing
Other Sources: Forrests Music, Ace Hardware

Now, a few caveats about this list:

These are the items that I consider essential for my own style of reed making. Other players and teachers will likely have somewhat different lists.
In listing the best prices for these items, I have tried to find tools that are sufficient for a beginning reed maker. They certainly aren’t the only options, nor are they all the specific models that I use on a daily basis.
If you buy all of the “Best Price” items on this list, it comes to about $320, not including tax or shipping charges. This may seem like a lot, but consider that with commercial reeds at $15–20 a pop, making your own reeds will recover the cost of tools in relatively short order. If you really want to, you can wait on the reamer and torch, bringing the total down to about $220.
There are tools I use frequently that I haven’t included on this list, because there are ways of accomplishing the same tasks with those I have listed.
You will, of course, need something to put all of these tools in. Forrests, Midwest, and Miller all carry nice tool pouches, but you can also just use something you’ve already got or even the shipping box your tools arrive in.
There is one additional item without which all of this is useless: cane! But that’s a subject for another day.

Although I’ve made this list primarily for my own students, I hope that it will prove to be useful for others, as well. Happy reed making!

bassoon, for students, reeds, tools

Harvesting Cane

Jan 25th, 12 / 4 Comments

cane-expedition-01

The day before the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Bassoon Symposium started (see previous post), Stockton Symphony contrabassoonist Larry Rhodes (shown at right with San Francisco Symphony contrabassoonist Steve Braunstein) led a small group of us on a cane harvesting expedition. Giant cane (Arundo donax), which we bassoonists use to make our reeds, is classified as an invasive pest in California. It tends to grow in streams or marshy areas, and is primarily propagated by pieces floating along waterways and taking root in new locations. The area surrounding Stockton, most of which is part of the San Joaquin River Delta, is host to many stands of cane.

Larry found a particularly promising looking cane stand via Google Earth, then went in person to scope it out and obtain permission from the farmer on whose land it sits. Two carfuls of us drove out to the spot, about 25 minutes west of Stockton, where we met Larry and Steve. Larry showed us some of the cane he’d already cut, using it to demonstrate what we should be looking for in terms of diameter, growth patterns, and color. In short: for bassoon reeds you want green cane, about an inch in diameter, that has branches growing fairly low to the ground. He then set us loose in the cane patch. Armed with the small saws we’d brought, we spread out and started clambering in amongst the cane.

It became obvious very quickly that very different ages of cane grow all together. It took careful searching to find stalks of the proper size and age amongst lots of too-small, too-young, and dead stalks. We all started out slowly, cutting one stalk at a time and taking it to Larry for inspection. But, pretty soon we got the hang of just what it was we were looking for. The one thing we hadn’t thought about was how we’d transport the cane back to Stockton (or back home, for those who’d flown in just for MQVC). Larry tied 80-something stalks to the roof of his station wagon, but our hauls were much smaller.

I ended up with about eight stalks, although I had to cut them in half to fit them in my car. After stripping the branches and discarding broken or too-small pieces, I now have just over a dozen five-to-six-foot sections of cane. They’re now stuck up in the rafters of our garage, where they’ll sit drying for the next six months or so. After that, I’ll prop them upright in the sun for about two ~~weeks~~ months to complete the curing process. Then, I can cut ’em up, split the tubes, and get going on turning my harvest into reeds!

More photos from the expedition: