 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: mjfoboe
Date: 2011-10-23 18:36
What should be the difference in the micrometer readings from a wet piece of gouged cane (right after the gouging process) compared to a dry piece of gouged cane?
And which readings are more accurate? Reliable? To maintain consistency?
Mark
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Author: Loree BF51
Date: 2012-01-28 15:09
Well, there wasn't exactly a mad scramble to keyboards to shed light on this question, was there?! I'm just getting back into playing and reed making after a very long layoff, but I would take an educated guess that there is a 2-4 hundredths of a mm. increase in the soaked piece of cane. To make these measurements I prefer a manual micrometer with personally reshaped contacts from the original flats. I hope mine is in the storage locker! Years ago, I remember opening some fellow, oboe player's Starret's (sic?) automatic micrometers and removing some of the leaf spring's material, so they didn't press as hard against the cane. That situation may be different now, but I don't know for sure. I will try to check on your question in the next week or so. Regards, Loree BF51
R. Still former student
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Author: JMarzluf
Date: 2012-01-28 17:02
This is a good question, and I'm sorry I didn't see it earlier!
While you are gouging cane, its fibers get compressed by the weight/force you are exerting on the machine. I always gouge to my desired thickness, let the cane dry out overnight, and then re-soak it and measure it again the next day. Depending on the inherent density of that piece of cane, those compressed fibers will "re-inflate" and the new measurement can be as much as .01-.04 mm thicker on day two! So, it's back to the gouger for another pass. After this second pass, the cane is usually stable enough that I don't have to re-gouge it a third time. So, in a way, I consider the first trip through the gouger as nothing more than "advanced pre-gouging."
The same concept applies when scraping a reed. We all know how a reed, the day after we make it, seems to have "gained weight" overnight. All of this makes for a great argument for the importance of a sharp knife (and gouger blade), which does more cutting than compressing because you don't have to press down as hard (though some compression will always occur).
By the way, I don't ever bother measuring dry cane, because I don't PLAY on dry cane. ;-) Cane of different densities will "shrink" at differing degrees/percentages when dry. This really doesn't concern me, as I always base my decisions on how the soaked piece is measuring/performing.
Hope this helps!
Jonathan
http://www.marzlufreeds.com/
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