Klarinet Archive - Posting 000682.txt from 2004/11

From: orm1ondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: [kl] grain vs not-grain (was: Sandpaper vs. Reed knife)
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 15:49:53 -0500

Steve White wrote:

> Using what is essentially the wood-working
> term of 'raising the grain' as a starting point
> [snip] Immerse the reeds but end up into the
> warm water [snip] Once the reeds are
> saturated, I place them table side up on a
> piece of glass to dry. [snip] I call this
> 'tempering' but I think it just the concept of
> raising the grain of the wood

(Not to be a nitpicker, but it's cane, not wood....)

I use a similar procedure, but after each drying, I find (as Larry Guy's
book explains) 'dust' particles on the reed's surface which can be
whisked away with the edge of a knife (without cutting into the reed).
I can see these 'dust particles' with a loupe, but I don't know
precisely what I'm looking at.

I can't help wondering what 'grain' is, and whether cane has 'grain',
and precisely what I'm scraping away (presumably leaving a higher
percentage of fibers behind)?

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