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Oil Treated Reeds?

Author: jasperbay
Date: 2010-08-07 04:20

In the case of an old Austrian albert (Ch. Jerome) clarinet I just aquired was an empty cardboard 2- reed holder with the logo: Prescott 'Oil Treated' Reeds. pat; 11-26 (1926) G.E. Lefabvre, Cleveland.

I've treated reeds with superglue, urethane, etc. to create my own poor-man's Plasticover reed, but have never heard of oil-treating a reed. Presumably this was to enhance the playability,and/or waterproofing? In any case, the world apparently didn't" beat a path to his door"!

Has anyone tried 'oil treating' cane reeds??

Clark G. Sherwood

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Re: Oil Treated Reeds?

Author: skygardener
Date: 2010-08-07 04:46

http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=258662&t=84175

BTW, about your personal treatment methods- You should not use superglue in large quantities with anything that goes in your mouth. It is very toxic.

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Re: Oil Treated Reeds?

Author: jasperbay
Date: 2010-08-07 14:46

Skygardener: Thanks for the link to the old 'oiled reeds' thread. I had no idea so many of you folks had tried/thought about/etc. oiling reeds in the past! I should have "Searched" first, my bad.

The results; good/bad/indifferent were all over the landscape, many of the experimenters being amateurs,but many of the scientific comments from 'The Doctor' and others were very interesting.

I understand your trepidation concerning superglued objects in the mouth, as CA glue is 'Cyanoacrylic', the Cyano meaning Cyanide somewhere in the mix. I'd always assumed the toxicity 'fumed off' during curing, since CA glue in its medical form is used extensively for surgery. Is there a chemist out there who could comment on cured CA glue toxicity?

Now to try some sweet almond oil on some Rico orange-box reeds!!

Clark G. Sherwood

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Re: Oil Treated Reeds?

Author: Tony F
Date: 2010-08-08 16:42

When I took lessons in England in the early 50's my teacher used to rub both sides of new reeds on a block of beeswax and then burnish it into the grain with a piece of silk. i've tried it myself and didn't notice any benefit.

Tony F.

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