Author: oboist2
Date: 2020-03-08 01:54
I bought gouged and shaped cane for more than 30 years as I could not afford the equipment, however I got a little sick of the variables I often got, and it was getting too expensive, so when I retired, I bought a gouging machine. I ended up with a reeds n stuff with a circular blade. I asked for it to be set up to gouge 60 at centre and 45 at sides. I make a long scrape reed, but its a little different from the typical US scrape. I also bought a shaping machine at that time. Eventually, I got a crank handle pre gouger (the best investment I ever made. At first I tended to push the blade on the gouger too hard and went through 2 turns out of the three of the circular blade. I gouge my can damp - after a good soak and then I wipe off excess water. With the crank style pregouger, most of the work is done for me and I dont have to gouge much - The thing is, I have found you need to be quite ruthless in your selecting and culling stage before you start to gouge - If you are not, the cane does not rest in the bed well, and can slide around, so any cane that is not straight and even slightly warped should be discarded. You also need to gouge cane that has the same diameter as your gouger bed. I also smooth out the insides with fine wet and dry paper after, and make sure the cane is properly dry before storing. I chose the reeds n stuff gouger because it is very well made, and with a circular blade you do not have to worry about sharpening and resetting. The downside is that you are limited to what adjustments you can make, but I feel that, the main thing is that you are consistent as your scrape may vary a little if you want to make changes.
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
