Klarinet Archive - Posting 000209.txt from 2002/07

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] cork failure
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2002 17:45:03 -0400

Karl Krelove wrote,
>I've seen many bassoons and some bass clarinets
>that had thread with no cork anywhere in sight
>as a permanent fixture.
[snip]
>I've never seen a modern clarinet that didn't have corks
>on the tenons, but I don't know why it wouldn't work.
>Maybe someone else has experience with it - good or bad.

I've bought "attic" clarinets, unmodified since the 19th or early 20th
century, that had thread instead of cork on the tenons. I've seen
illustrations and antique catalogues that show thread as original equipment.
Most of the metal clarinets I've bought had thread-wrapped tenons. I think
factories supplied them that way right up to the end of production in the
mid-20th century. I also own some German-made Concerto, Sonata and Adler
wooden recorders, purchased for me in the 1950s, that came from the factory
with wrapped thread tenons.

Most of the German recorder tenons and the metal clarinet tenons I've seen
are so tight that when the thread wears out, corking them is impractical.
The cork has to be so thin that it tends to crack and chip, especially when I
try to curl it around those skinny little metal tenons. Even if it goes on
in one piece, it's too fragile to hold up for long. I'm also not all that
thrilled with thread, except for emergencies. Though IMHO it works just as
well as cork, it starts to separate and unwind fairly fast.

I've found two other alternatives for recorders and metal clarinets, though I
prefer cork for wooden and plastic clarinets. My husband, a book
conservationist, uses a lot of bookbinders' linen and also a very thin
leather called "skiver" (pronounced "sky - vur"). When I need to wrap a
tenon that's too tight for cork, I raid his wastebasket for scraps.

Since my husband buys his supplies from a wholesaler who only sells in large
quantities to the trade, I can't recommend specific places to buy this stuff.
(He buys glue by the gallon, leather by the hide and fabric five yards at a
time, for instance.) I doubt that I've used more than a square foot of
either the leather or the linen in the five years or so that I've been
restoring old clarinets. If I bought the linen myself, the maximum I'd want
to buy would be a quarter of a yard, and that much would last me years!
However, I've seen both the fabric and the thin leather available in
reasonably small packages for only a few dollars, in the bigger craft and
hobby shops and in fabric shops.

If it's the right thickness, skiver makes a very thin but extremely durable
tenon wrap. Apply it and grease it exactly like cork. Leather lasts at
least as long as cork and many times longer than thread. If the skiver from
the wastebasket is too thick, I scrape it down to size myself with my
husband's skiving knife (a calibrated scraper that removes small amounts at a
time, evenly, from the rough side of the hide). That method isn't something
I can recommend to everybody because the specialized skiving tool is way too
expensive to buy just for corking an occasional clarinet.

Bookbinders' linen is thin, tightly woven fabric that's easier to apply and
almost as durable as skiver. (*Don't* try to use ordinary, uncoated linen,
because glue seeps right through it and makes a yucky mess.) On the back,
bookbinders' linen has a thin layer of polymer coating that glues can't
penetrate. That's the side to glue and press down against the tenon.
Instead of bevelling and lapping the ends, cut the fabric so that the edges
meet up precisely. The combination of tight weave and backing prevents the
fabric from unravelling the way thread does. You can wrap more than one
layer of linen around the tenon, to build up the right thickness. However, I
prefer cork if I'd have to use more than three turns of fabric. I only like
fabric for tenons that are too tight to cork.

Lelia
LeliaLoban@-----.com

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