Author: vboboe
Date: 2008-04-25 17:29
it was a 'bad batch of cane' that made me decide to soak longer! i cracked a whole bundle of regular 10 pcs to the concept of 'just soak it until it sinks' and that 'bad batch of cane' really showed up the unworkable idea behind the method i was using
thanks, hautboisJJ, for response to questions, reinforces immediate first thought that the bark layer probably isn't soaked through enough for tying on, and rapid evaporation due to your local warm air temperature is perhaps drying out the bark to cracking point while you're tying on
as jschmidt says it's making sure *the bark* is wet enough, that is, the bark's soaked though enough to make it *flexible* for shaping around the tube, so that's why the colour change from bright ochre yellow to dark ochre yellow is a useful indicator of readiness
the length of the soak time (from bone-dry to readiness) does seem to depend on air or water temperature -- in the depth of my winter here, it's OK to soak a long time overnight (7 hrs) because night house temp is usually 55-58, water this cold is more viscous (thicker) and takes longer to soak the cane to readiness, before tying on, though, i do put the cane in comfortably warm water and sometimes dip the top of the tubes in hot water too
however, in my summer when temps stay above 75 and soar into the mid-high 80's, i start the soak in the early morning (7-ish) with cold tap water and by mid-morning (9-ish) it's tepid already and the cane's dark colour shows it's ready
most of the time a soak for 2-3 hours is sufficient
downside, cane soaked this long to ensure the bark's flexible enough for shaping and tying on is much too wet for finishing a playable reed, so there's a production line down-time for drying the blanks, which is pretty much recommended anyway
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