 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: LJBraaten
Date: 2026-03-24 08:53
I finally broke down and replaced that loose tenon cork; I’ve been putting it off nearly a year! The most labor intensive and easy to botch up part for me is the sanding, getting that even bevel, or barrel shape on the cork. As I was preparing the strip of cork it occurred to me: Why wait to bevel it until after I install it? Why not now when it’s flat and unobstructed? So I did, and it saved a lot of labor. Here se the steps:
1 For a sander I used a standard emery board nail file.
2. I laid the cork strip flat and near the edge of 1” board. This gave me room to angle the file downward without scraping the working surface.
3. Occasionally place the strip in the tenon groove to check the edges for alignment with the tenon. The edges can go a little lower since the contact cement raise the cork a bit.
4. Glue on the cork and do final touch up sanding.
I didn’t think of step three until after I glue the cork down. I had not sanded it enough so my “touch up” involved a lot of sanding. Checking would have made the job easier.
Laurie (he/him)
Post Edited (2026-03-24 08:56)
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2026-03-24 12:19
I do it somewhat similarly but with a few differences...
First, I prefer to not have a barrel shape to the cork, but just a sort of taper/curve to the edges to a degree. Especially the outer edge, so the socket doesn't collide with it and tries to peel it off. I prefer the overall feel and firmness of a more straight tenon cork as opposed to the "gradual" feel of the barrel shape so to speak.
As far as the steps...
1. Same. I mostly use a flexible nail file with two grits.
2. Pretty much the same. I sand the taper/curve of the edge before gluing the cork. For saxophone neck corks I sometimes sand a slight taper at the back, also before gluing, so the the result is more cylindrical before any sanding and curve/taper the back corner too. Basically I do any sanding that is possible before gluing.
3. I don't sand the edges to be lower than the shoulder. The glue only adds a minuscule insignificant amount to the thickness, nothing that really affects it. Some people use a very thick layer of glue, smeared with a brush, though even that would add only a tiny amount. I only smear a thin layer and there is an invisible difference between the cork and the shoulder heights before and after gluing.
Bonus 0 step: I measure the socket and the tenon to decide on the cork thickness to use, to prevent a lot of sanding and waste by using a thicker cork.
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