 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2022-11-17 01:27
Does anybody still use reed rush / dutch rush / scouring rush to adjust their reeds?
Thanks
Post Edited (2022-11-26 21:36)
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2022-11-22 19:21
Where do you get your dutch rush?
(There is a patch of it growing on city land near me.)
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2022-11-22 22:54
I used to use it. Guy in the band I play in also had a place where he picked it.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2022-11-22 23:06
Hi,
If it's this plant here:
https://plantsforponds.co.uk/products/dutch-rush-equisetum-hyemale
then it should be quite easy to grow.
My neighbour has a huge clump growing in her pond, and a bassoon playing husband actually now I come to think of it. Maybe there's a connection.
I think if you had a pond in your garden you could just put a clump in and it would get on and grow without help. Possibly depending where you are in the world.
Jen
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Author: Hunter_100
Date: 2022-11-22 23:19
I never realized what this plant was...We always called these things horsetails. They grow all over the place near me.
How do you use them? Just pick the stalk and start sanding or do they have to be dried out, etc?
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2022-11-22 23:55
Hunter-- The ones that were given to me were dry as a bone.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2022-11-23 00:40
The ones they sell in the woodwind shop here are dry, flat and sort of beige I think, so I'm not quite sure what has happened to them. Maybe they are surface sterilised and dried or something?
I suppose my main worry would be poisoning as the stuff from the rush must go in the player's mouth.
I looked online and this page:
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/cmis_proxy/https/ecm.nrcs.usda.gov%3A443/fncmis/resources/WEBP/ContentStream/idd_00C7556A-0000-C15C-94A1-5D4EB7E97D69/0/ILGM-SPECIES-NI_Horsetails-ScouringRushes.pdf
It says the plant is poisonous to farm animals but doesn't say about people.
It says that horsetail has "thiaminase activity". Thiaminase is an enzyme that destroys thiamine (vitamin B1). So if someone *ate* horsetail every day for a few weeks they would get the symptoms of vitamin B1 deficiency.
I only know that because sardines also have thiaminase in them, and a few years ago I got in the habit of eating sardines every day and developed B1 deficiency symptoms myself.
Presumably if we don't actually eat the horsetail but just rub it on the reed then that is not such a problem. I'd want it to be a pretty clean, sterile horsetail though, and not too froggy or covered in algae. The document also doesn't say about other possible concerns around human ingestion.
I'd be interested to know if anyone on the forum has knowledge of how the commercially produced dutch rush is processed for actual safety.
Adult learner, Grade 3
Equipment: Yamaha Custom CX Bb, Fobes 10K CF mp,
Legere Bb clarinet European Cut #2.5, Vandoren Optimum German Lig.
Post Edited (2022-11-23 00:41)
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Author: JTJC
Date: 2022-11-23 17:01
Interesting question. I understand Dutch rush has been used over very long period by oboe players but I've never heard of any health issues.
For those of us that use abrasive paper to adjust our reeds this is does raise the question of how good for us that is. I'd guess there are a lot more harmful ingredients in abrasive paper than there are in rush.
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2022-11-26 21:45
Yes "horsetail" is another name for it.
{I post-edited the title of this thread.}
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum_hyemale
Dutch rush is green while growing. Dry it thoroughly, until it turns brown, before using. If you pick it late enough in the year, it will already be brown, at least in Michigan. In my observation, it grows near flowing water. Its stems contain silica making it mildly abrasive. According to the WikiPedia article, in Japan it is boiled and dried before being used for polishing.
Use it like sandpaper or a scraping knife. One of my teachers soaked it before using; I don't know that this is really necessary.
There are several places near my house that it occurs naturally.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2022-11-27 05:58
Ralph,
Another ingredient seems to be sandy soil. I used to get mine on the left side of the 3rd hole on the Stone Ridge Golf Course very close to Sandridge Rd. You pull the sections apart and let them dry but you can use it right away. Yes, silica.
HRL
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Author: aev
Date: 2022-11-27 06:30
Dutch rush is commonly used by bassoonists. When I used it, I would fill a section of freshly cut dutch rush with Elmer's glues. Once the glue hardens, you have rigid tube for sanding reeds that will last almost forever. Note that dutch rush is less abrasive than #600 sandpaper.
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Author: kilo
Date: 2022-11-27 16:07
I wonder when Légère will start offering sticks of silica-infused polypropylene for reed working...
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