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Re: Reed Knife

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-11-21 23:19

Regardless of how much you clipped this particular reed, I'm fairly certain some people use almost any kind of knife successfully for scraping reeds. My reaction to using a box cutter is that the sharp edge is fairly short and does not lead flush into the body of the tool, so it's harder to get exactly the angle you want, especially on the side of the reed opposite your hand. The tool body might be in your way. So, I'd opt for a reed knife.

Whatever you use, it needs to be sharp. A dull blade will tear more than scrape and you risk putting divots in the reed from having to press a dull edge too hard to get wood to actually come off cleanly.

Inexpensive is in the eye of the shopper. The online music outlets all sell them at varying price points. Some cutlers sell suitable knives. I have two Herder knives, which will tell old-timers here how long it has been since I was knife-shopping. Oboists tend to use triangular blades. Clarinetists I know who use knives tend to prefer hollow-ground ones because they're easier to use if you're trying to remove bark to lengthen the vamp (which, if you really cut off 6 mm of tip, you will surely need to do).

Karl

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