 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: GMac
Date: 2005-10-24 03:29
Hi everyone,
I'm thinking of getting some new knives, and possibly some new crocksticks. What are everyone's favourites of both?
The knives that I've liked are...
-Philadelphia Herder
-Landwell (although in the past year, most people that buy new ones seem to say that they can't get a good edge)
- The knives that are like Mark Chudnows with a black handle
I have never tried a Mark Chudnow, what do you think of them?
Graham
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2005-10-25 02:43
I personally use Landwells....I have attempted with Vitrys, and Pisonis, but I can't get the precision of edge needed for tip scraping. Many people find Landwells difficult to use - I agree they are difficult- but it is because they are so sensitive. One or two careless swipes on the sharpening stone and the edge is uneven and needs to be reset. However it is this sensitivity that gives such precision.
Inferior knives may feel "sharp" but in reality they are just gritty - they will tear up the tip.
Also, for sharpening I prefer flat stones. There is no subjectivity. With a crockstick you have to be able to hold your knife in the air at a certain angle, whereas on a stone you hold it at your preferred angle, and swipe it across the stone...letting gravity put the edge on. I use a diamond stone to put on the rough edge, and a ceramic stone for refining and retouching the edge.
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Author: fjozn
Date: 2005-10-27 02:22
I have 2 Landwells, one bevelled edged (BE) and one double hollow ground (DHG)"hard".
I'm very happy with the BE, I do all my fine scraping with it. The DHG gives me a bit of problem sharpening though, I find very difficult to maintain a consistent edge on it although I never seems to have this problem with the BE!
I suspect that the "medium" and "soft" DHG knives should be easier to sharpen. Any comments?
The black handles are probably knives by Pisoni or Rigotti. They work fine for me. I use a razor edged for my rough scraping.
I sharpen my knives on a Japanese water stone. They work the best for me!
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-10-27 15:06
Gonzalo Ruiz showed me the easiest and quickest sharpening method I've seen. He uses a fairly soft blade, like the Vitry or Landwell soft. It's flat on the side toward his thumb and hollow ground on the other.
When the knife needs sharpening, he puts a few drops of water on a black Hard Arkansas stone, puts the flat side of the knife flat on the stone with the edge toward him and pushes it away a single stroke. This flattens and trues up the edge.
He then puts the hollow ground side of the knife flat on the stone with the edge facing away from him and pushes it forward a single stroke, raising the back of the knife as he does so to a 45 degree angle to sharpen the other edge and bend it to the best scraping angle.
The process takes him less than 30 seconds.
He does this frequently -- about once for each blade of the reed. He says that the edge on a harder blade wouldn’t last much longer and is more difficult to restore. (A couple of other people have also said this on the IDRS board.)
Part of the reason he has to sharpen frequently is his method of forming the tip, at least on baroque oboe reeds. He opens the tip 2-3 mm. longer than the final length. He then forms the tip by scraping all the way off the cane and onto the plaque. This shreds the cane, particularly at the corners, but he removes the damaged part when he clips the reed to its final length. This lets him make a thin, responsive tip without worrying about damaging the end.
Ken Shaw
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