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Re: replacing cork pads

Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-12-28 12:54

I use 1.6mm thick cork for tenons (dunno what that is in inches - probably somewhere around 1/16") and shape it on a lathe with abrasive until it's a nice barrel shape. With metal lined sockets you want the tenon corks to be left fairly thick as thin tenon corks will become very loose very quickly. After shaping and before applying grease to the tenon cork, check the tenon with the socket to see if it goes on 1/3 the width of the cork without feeling overly tight, then apply grease and fit the joints together completely. The cork should compress well, but will retain a certain amount of elasticity so it returns to it's original shape (or near enough) when the joints are dismantled. If the tenon is wobbly in the socket without any cork, then build up the upper tenon ring to make it a wobble-free fit before fitting the tenon cork. Tenon corks are there to keep the joints together and provide an airtight seal, and they won't cure a loose joint.

With cork pads, make sure you have equal amount of pad sidewall showing all around the circumference of the fingerplates and pad cups when they're seating PERFECTLY (you will have to trim the pads down to the required thickness). And your cork padding is only successful provided the tonehole bedplaces they're seating on are PERFECT. There's no point in trying to seat cork pads on uneven or chipped tonehole bedplaces, so check them ALL, and either recut (if you have access to oboe tonehole cutters and the machinery to do this on), fill and level or bush them if need be. Finish the face of your cork pads with the finest abrasive on a flat surface (ie. glue 1200 grit onto glass), though use a few grades of coarser abrasives to get a flat face on your cork pads and remove any imperfections that can cause leaks (such as hard lumps or holes) by grinding them down until you get a completely blemish-free facing.

Don't use cork under adjusting screws as it gets chewed up easily causing regulation problems. Use a tougher substance such as gasket cork or similar but not Teflon as that is brittle and noisy. If you can't get gasket cork or microfibre, use leather cut from sax pads (though this will harden under pressure from adjusting screws)

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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