Author: jhoyla
Date: 2008-04-13 05:14
Have any of you ever cut glass? you score the glass lightly once, and then snap it cleanly. If you score too heavily, or if you score it several times, the result is a dangerous mess. The secret to scoring cane is to do it exactly once, very lightly. The bark will snap, but most of the hinge remains intact.
I soak, shape and tie in batches of six, using gently luke-warm water, which is room temperature by the time I'm tying.
While the cane is soaking I use an easel and a reed knife to thin the ends in a shape that is almost like an initial scrape on the tip: 2-2.5 mm long, with a discernible spine exactly in the center. I ignore the sides which will be removed in the shaping process. This helps prevent splitting and gives a smooth gradation down to the staple when wrapping down over the end of the cane.
Once I have done all of the pieces and arranged my reed-tying stuff on the desk, usually one piece has sunk to the bottom. I take this piece, score it incredibly lightly on the easel, and then fold over my finger as bobo described. The bark snaps with a clean edge, and this helps me measure my tie-on length accurately.
Narrow the hinge with a bevel blade until it fits exactly between the ears (center perfectly, so that the thickest part of the gouge is exactly in the center of the shape), shape the cane, then straight back in the water and on to the next piece. Anything that has cracked up to this point was dud anyway.
By the time I get to tying on, all of the cane is shaped, soaked and ready to tie.
J.
Post Edited (2008-04-13 07:45)
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