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Re: Tautness of thread

Author: Oboe Craig
Date: 2012-07-29 19:09

Re: YOur cane alignment question.

There are a couple things I do that might help you:

Use a mandrel with flat sides that are parallel to the flattest part of the tip.

Grasp the cane against the tip of the mandrel from the sides rather than top and bottom of the cane with your index finger and thumb, of the same hand holding the mandrel. It becomes easy to feel when the fingers (where they touch the cane) are perpendicular to the flat portions of the mandrel's handle. That means the cane is aligned properly with the tip and staple opening.

Wrap the thread around a few times (say 3 or 4) not very tightly, just enough to squeeze the cane around the mandrel. Start the wrapping just above your fingers far enough down the reed that you will require another 4 - 6 wraps to complete the upward winding before the cross-over. Then pull the thread tighter. All 3 or 4 wraps will tighten.

At this point you can remove your fingers from the cane and while keeping the tread tension fairly tight rotate the mandrel so you can look downward straight away from you to check the alignment. The thread will act as a hinge allowing this motion. Be careful not to relax the tension and not to let the thread slip, or it'll fly apart.

Return to winding position with fingers back in place and relax tension slightly if you need to nudge the cane around. That could be side to side for more even closure (Sides need to close together) or perhaps you will want to push more cane onto or off the staple. If I need to twist it, I let it go loose and start over.

Once a good parallel reed cane to the flat mandrel handle are had and good alignment to the line of the mandrel and staple and cane, return the cane to winding position and complete the wind.

Once wound and cut from the thread, before you open the tip you can inspect it a couple ways for quality.

Blow on the reed from top or bottom and listen for leaks. Anything more than minor leaks right above the staple - 3 -5 mm and I cut it off and retry, usually making more cane go onto the staple.

Visually inspect the tip alignment by looking into the large end of the staple.

You should see the cane fold cleanly across the center of the staple in line with its oval.

Roll the blank on a flat surface. You may have to remove some of the ears from the shape. You will see it roll evenly or not, and perhaps even hear a clicking on one side as the off center ear hist the surface.

Hope this helps.

If you don't already have one, a good reed maker's manual will be a huge benefit.

David Weber, Joseph Shalia, Jay Light and others have good pubs out there.

My favorite is David Weber's.

-Craig

Post Edited (2012-07-29 19:17)

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