 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jane
Date: 2000-08-31 01:25
i got a little curious the other day and was wondering if anybody knew of a substitute for corking material.
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Author: J. Butler
Date: 2000-08-31 01:39
Valentino makes a synthetic material for corks and there is actually a "synthetic" cork on the market. I don't particularly care for it. Some of the manufacturers are using it on their entry level clarinet joints. With the price of cork going "sky high" I believe you are going to see more of it in repair work. I believe cork is more expensive than gold per ounce! Okay, okay, maybe not that much. A sheet of 4"x12" of premium grade 3/64ths cork (tenon cork) costs your friendly repair technician or music store about $14 US. It is to the point that suppliers are putting in their catalogs "call for current price" due to the daily fluctuations.
J. Butler
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Author: Eoin McAuley
Date: 2000-08-31 11:59
J. Butler wrote:
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I believe cork is more expensive than gold per ounce! Okay, okay, maybe not that much.
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And how much is an ounce of cork, about a cubic metre?
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Author: C. Hogue
Date: 2000-08-31 14:08
Here's some longer-term hopeful news about corks.
The wine industry, of course, has been the major user of cork through the ages. But natural cork occasionally can cause wine to get "musty" because of natural compounds produced by cork oak trees that are transformed by certain bacteria. This is a big headache for vintners.
A new synthetic cork that looks like and "performs" like natural cork is coming on the market for wines -- it's a far cry from the plastic corks in cheap champagne bottles and it prevents that musty problem. If this catches on, it could mean the price of natural cork could stabilize.
For those of you who want more details, check out Chemical & Engineering News, Aug. 21, 2000, page 22.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-08-31 20:29
I think the price of sheet cork for clarinet tenons runs around $8.30 per square foot right now. Sometimes I use a substitute, in places where the cork would have to be so thin or such a small piece that it wouldn't be strong enough. Sometimes I substitute thin leather. For the neck tenon on a metal clarinet, sometimes I use book binder's linen. It's thin fabric (available in several thicknesses and colors from suppliers of book binding materials for libraries and restorationists -- my husband is a book restorationist, so I pilfer his scraps), with a backing that prevents glue from seeping through the fabric. I use Sobo glue on it and apply it just like cork. (I use inconspicuous brown, but I guess if somebody really wanted screaming Oxford Red corks....) The linen can be greased like cork and behaves like cork. It works very well as a substitute for string winding on a tenon, too. You can wind the fabric around as many times as necessary to get the right thickness.
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Author: J. Butler
Date: 2000-09-01 03:17
Lelia,
I would like to know who you are getting your sheet cork from. Premium 3/64ths is running about $14-16 US from the suppliers I use. Yes, the thinner cork is less expensive but I would buy a bunch of 3/64ths or 1/16th at 8.70 a sheet! Note that I used the word "premium" not "pressed filled" or "composite".
J. Butler
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-09-01 04:44
I've redone the tenons of a few clarinets that were done with automotive gasket cork. I even tried it myself thinking the original "corker" did sloppy work causing premature failure. Didn't work for me either. Just about all automotive cork has a great deal of ground up rubber (old tires?) in it with many small pieces of cork all compressed into a sheet. It works great for at being sandwiched permanantly between two chunks of metal where there is no futhur movement, but on tenons where assembly and disassembly are constant, it stinks.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-09-01 12:58
J. Butler wrote:
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Lelia,
I would like to know who you are getting your sheet cork from. Premium 3/64ths is running about $14-16 US from the suppliers I use. Yes, the thinner cork is less expensive but I would buy a bunch of 3/64ths or 1/16th at 8.70 a sheet! Note that I used the word "premium" not "pressed filled" or "composite".
J. Butler
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Thanks for catching that goof -- I made a mistake in saying that the cork I buy was priced per *square* foot. It's priced per *running* foot and is aproximately 4" wide. Big difference! I get my sheet cork by mail from a sneezy advertiser, Ferree's Tools:
http://www.ferreestools.com
The web site is small, but has instructions on how to get a company catalogue and ordering information. The current sheet cork prices as of November, 1999 (the latest price sheet update) are (per running foot, by thickness):
A55 1/64" 8.30
A56 1/32" 8.30
A57 1/16" 10.00
A58 3/32" 12.30
A59 1/8" 15.50
A60 3/16" 19.70
A61 1/4" 27.90
A62 3/64" 10.00
For clarinet tenon corks, I usually need the 1/32" and 1/16" sizes. Most of the "bumper" corks on key feet and between keys are also those thicknesses, or sometimes 1/8". Those three sizes are the only ones I've been buying as sheet cork. If corks have to be thinner than 1/32", I prefer leather or boook binder's linen. For the really thick, contoured corks necessary on the backs of some of the key touches, I bought a bag of miscellaneous bottle corks (at a Ben Franklin's hobby shop) and carve pieces to size.
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Author: J. Butler
Date: 2000-09-02 02:03
1/32nd is too thin for tenon corks....1/16 is used on the older clarinets only. The new clarinets use the 3/64ths for tenon corks. Yes, I use Ferree's all the time for supplies but their cork is sometimes less than "premium". Two other major suppliers have better cork and one runs a little over $14 for a 4X12 sheet and the other a little over $16 for a 4X12 sheet.
J. Butler
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-09-02 19:31
J. Butler wrote:
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1/32nd is too thin for tenon corks....1/16 is used on the older clarinets only. The new clarinets use the 3/64ths for tenon corks. Yes, I use Ferree's all the time for supplies but their cork is sometimes less than "premium". Two other major suppliers have better cork and one runs a little over $14 for a 4X12 sheet and the other a little over $16 for a 4X12 sheet.
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All the clarinets I've recorked have been "vintage". The pre-WWII ones do often take 1/32", although I agree with you that it's too thin. Cork that thin is hard to work with. It tears easily and wears out quickly. I think the modern clarinets are improved in that respect. I've been happy with the quality of the cork and other supplies I get from Ferree's.
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Author: shmuelyosef
Date: 2017-06-27 00:53
I completely agree, but there are old Selmers that need 1/64", particularly on the lower joint tenon (for the bell). For this, I use the laminated cork or use the Valentino's in the 'as delivered' 1/64", which is pretty rugged. I have seen clarinets where somebody actually sanded a thicker cork down to 1/64" and it disintegrated.
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