Author: Northreed
Date: 2004-09-05 15:36
Hello All:
Please add another voice to this string... Hopefully others can benefit from my experiences. It's great to learn from one another, eh? - sorry for the "eh", I'm Canadian...
Like all other aspects of oboe playing, plaques have to match individual needs. I have tried many plaques (metal, wood, plastic) over quite a few decades, but I still make my own from stainless steel shim stock or automotive "feeler gauges". Why? None of the commercial plaques are thin enough on the sides for my taste, and none seem wide enough for my scraping style.
To make a plaque, I cut the shape with shears, grind it roughly to the shape I like (gently rounded on the blade end, more pointy on the string end), then I taper one end and the sides to a gradual "knife edge" with a rotary water-cooled stone holding the plaque with pliers to avoid finger damage(!). I then finish the surface by polishing on wet/dry abrasive papers (200, 320, 400, 600) with water (with a soft cloth under the paper for some "give". The final polish is necessary in order that the surface is uniform in appearance for inspecting the translucency (i.e. thickness) of the finished reed tip. I can make three plaques in about an hour, and these usually last me a couple of years, although I don't really keep track of that.
My plaques are almost cutting edges (all metal plaques get that way after time anyway, don't they?). This sharpness does not damage the reed blades at all - even when the plaque is pushed well towards the string, in fact, it creates a smooth transition between the blades and the plaque - resulting in no leaks, ever, in a finished reed (well, almost never). I never use goldbeater's skin, and never use wire, even for my EH reeds.
For me, the knife edge is a sacrificial element here. If it dulls a bit more quickly because of using a metal plaques, so be it. What counts is a reed technique that results in success. I still get 30-40 reeds (at least, although I don't count) from each sharpening, and knives are easily sharpened! By the way, all of my scraping knives are bevelled Landwells - by far the best I have ever used.
All this fuss over a tiny, thin, scrap of material!!! We oboe players are truly wierd!! However, I hope my comments are of some interest, and that some folks may find them thought-provoking and useful.
Cheers, and happy (yeah, right) scraping!
Nigel
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