 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2003-03-12 22:17
Which models of which makers are definitely made from heartwood?
I know that the Buffet Prestige model is made from heartwood, but what about LeBlanc, Yamaha and Selmer?
Thanks in advance guys =]
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Author: javier garcia m
Date: 2003-03-13 16:59
What is exactly heartwood? AFAIK, Buffet uses grenadilla (Mpingo, or african blackwood) for their clarinets.
Leblanc, Rossi and Patricola use rosewood (palissandre or violet wood) in some of their models.
Selmer use Rosewood for Contrabass clarinets (EEb and BBb)
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-03-13 17:31
Are these models more expensive than the other wood? I would watch out for hype .....
David Dow
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-03-13 18:03
I was under the impression that the only part of the "African Blackwood" trees useful in building quality woodwinds is the heart-wood.
The reason the trees have to grow for some 75 to 100 years before they are harvested for the purpose is that that is the amount of time and growth required for the heart-wood to reach proper compression of the grain and fibers, etc.
I wouldn't doubt that, perhaps, some of the cheapest wooden clarinets (not necessarily from the "big four") might be built out of other parts of the tree (even of other, cheaper woods) but, to my understanding, all the "good" makes and models of clarinets are built out of the African Blackwood's heart-wood.
(Actually, the term "African Blackwood is generic and might apply to three, or more, different species of trees, including Grenadilla and Ebony. I have never been able to remember the third main species of tree it applies to. Perhaps I'll try to remember to look it up in my files of educational articles.)
If I remember correctly, one of the main reasons attributed to the early demise of the M'pingo trees, was the fact that there was so much waste of wood involved. The trees are surprisingly thin, anyway, so there would probably be very little of them left beyond the heartwood, once they were harvested.
Peter
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Author: Bart Hendrix
Date: 2003-03-13 21:41
"The reason the trees have to grow for some 75 to 100 years before they are harvested for the purpose is that that is the amount of time and growth required for the heart-wood to reach proper compression of the grain and fibers, etc"
Actually, once the cambium layer has moved outward, the wood is changed very little if at all. However, it still makes sense that you would want an older, slow growing tree as the wood source. The rate at which the tree grows determines the density of the resulting wood. Slow growth gives dense wood. That's why trees have annual rings in the first place -- there are times of the year when they grow more rapidly and times when they grow more slowly. Scientists take small core samples from very old trees and use the annual ring widths to get an indication of environmental conditions over time.
I am not an expert woodworker, but it also makes sense to me that to get the greatest structural strength in a wooden cylinder, you would want to take advantage of the cylindrical structure of the annual rings -- hence use only the center portion of the tree.
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2003-03-14 07:10
To my understanding, Buffet uses heartwood for their Prestige, Festival, and Elite clarinets. R13 and below are NOT heartwood. When I look at the grain in mine, it definitely doen't look like heartwood, the grain when looking down the tenons is across, not around like it would be in a Prestige. But I don't know any of this for sure, it's just speculation I guess.
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2003-03-15 02:44
Go to the library and read R. Bruce Hoadly's Understanding Wood, published by Tauton
Press, (Or some other source.)
Characterisics of heartwood vs sapwood vary by species. For example, heartwood in bald cyprus is very rot resistant but the heartwood is not. Some trees have virtually no sapwood. With walnut,the mills sometimes pack boards with sawdust and steam the wood, which makes the sapwood look just like the heartwood. (I had a circa 1900 eefer that had an almost white stripe which was not apparent until I stripped the finish.) The best hickery for tool handles comes from second growth, which grows much more rapidly than first growth wood.
As noted above, sapwood turns into heartwood as more rings grow on the outside of the tree. In the tropics, rings may correspond to the rainy season rather than to winter.
The forest service has some information on African Blackwood.
http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/TechSheets/Chudnoff/African/htmlDocs%20africa/Dalbergiamelanoxylon
From what it says, I doubt there is much sapwood to work with. However, it does say ... "reported to respond to a diffusion treatment of polyethylene glycol-1,000 to improve dimensional stability." I wonder if this has been tried for wood used in clarinets. It would add a lot of weight, but might eliminate cracking.
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Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2003-03-15 02:56
I think you will find the the sapwood and outer heart is stripped off to make sheets before the heart is cut into billets from which instrument bodies are turned. Sheets of Grenadilla are used for knife handles and such like. I would contend that only the heartwood is used for clarinets and oboes. There is a lot of BS out there.
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