Klarinet Archive - Posting 000587.txt from 2003/03

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Tenon binding
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 17:51:40 -0500

A wooden clarinet barrel has a greater area of end grain proportional
to the total mass of wood present than any other section of the
clarinet. Additionally, the barrel receives the greater inundation of
moisture.

The binding is probably mostly due to the swelling of the wood in the
barrel. Swelling of the upper tenon might also contribute a small
amount to the problem.

My suggestion would be to not use this barrel for at least a week's
time. If you have a place to put it, maybe on a window sill where it
will get gentle heat and sunshine, that would help dry it out. You
might also place it under a lamp that will radiate heat onto it.

After it has lost some of this moisture, it should go on without
binding. DON'T PLAY IT, just assemble it to se that it no longer binds.
Now, in its drier state, oil it. Use sweet almond oil, applying it
liberally with a folded pipe cleaner. Pay particular attention to all
end grain wood, applying liberal amounts to the bottoms of both
sockets. If it appears that the oil has soaked in, apply more oil. Do
this until the wood quits "drinking" the oil.

While you're soaking the barrel, do the same application to the top of
the upper joint tenon, again adding lots of oil to the very end or end
grain.

This might solve the problem.

If it doesn't and binding resumes after you start playing it again,
take it to a repairman.

Are you careful to use the swab to remove all accumulated moisture from
the bottoms of the sockets?

On Friday, March 14, 2003, at 01:32 PM, Claudia Zornow wrote:

> I've recently developed a problem with my upper joint tenon binding to
> my barrel socket. A search of the archives revealed a nice article by
> Clark Fobes about how to determine where the problem is and use an
> emery
> cloth on the barrel socket to remedy the problem. (I'm not sure I have
> the guts to do this myself, but I can always consult a repair tech.)
>
> A friend tells me that this problem is caused by the fact that I never
> oil my clarinet's bore. (The clarinet is 15 years old, I've been using
> the barrel for 2 or 3 years, and the problem is new.) Another Fobes
> article in the archives states that he believes oiling the bore has
> very
> little effect due to the superficial nature of the oiling and the fact
> that in a short time it won't penetrate the hard wood.
>
> Any other ideas on why this problem would arise now?
>
> Thanks,
> Claudia
>
Richard Bush
Hope to see you in SLC @ ClarinetFest
rbushidioglot@-----.com
ICA member

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