DUTCH RUSH?? Polishing Your Reed

Uilleann Pipes
1

I just tried some of this stuff (REED RUSH - Leblanc) and it worked great. It added stability to the reed and gave an already good reed some additional silkiness, and not just a little. Just a few strokes please (with the grain).

Last year a very fine oboe player/teacher envited me up to his office, opened a cabinet door, and pulled out a bunch of reed making tools , plus video, and gave me.

Included in his cache was a thin, clear, plastic snap case (2x3x1/4") of dried Horsetail (joint grass), or Scouring Rushes (Equisetem species). I recognized the dried stems from having done quite a bit of ground cover ID for the USFS over the years. This plastic case, labeled “Leblanc REED RUSH,” and each round stem is about the size and shape of a straw used for
drinking (1/4" average), but some are quite small (1/8") like you see in a coffee shop for stirring.

I asked him what these were used for and he said, “polishing the reeds.” So, when I got home I look in my old weed and grass indicator books for this plant. I remember it being referred to as something like
“Bottlebrush Squirreltail” (which is a little different but fits the description). Interestingly, under Horsetail, the description says:

“…lacks branches thus having a rush-like appearance. This, plus the scouring property of the silica-impregnated epidermis is responsible for the second common name.”

This green plant grows everywhere, esp. around water, and Common Horsetail grows 6-18" tall while Giant Horsetail (the kind in the case I think) grows 2+’ tall. Dried, and in the case it is a light brown colour. It has a slightly abrasive feel to it, much less than .600 sanding paper, and is fairly rigid. Primitive campers have traditionally used it for scouring their pots and pans when washing dishes.


http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/ferns/equisetumhye.html

http://www.canit.se/~chrisdav/reedadj.html

http://www.jewelmusic.com/interesting%20articles/reedadjusting.htm

2

Is this used for polishing the inner faces of the reed before assembly, or the outer faces?

3

Rush Reed is sold for polishing the outside of the blades, after assembly. It’s shape is round and hollow, yet held like a pencil or round file when applying, which means it can be directed to specific areas of the surface of the blades.

A couple of the links above show just how sensitive certain areas of the blades are. If there’s a chart that shows the surface of an uilleann pipe reed, and where exactly to scrape for certain effects, send us the link, as I have never seen one. I’m guessing it is similar to other reeds.

I applied the rush more to the second scrape area, brushing it lightly in one direction (from V to lips) and it did something wonderful. The table, or middle area of the blade, is very sensitive, so apply very lightly there, if at all. My Tom Kennedy reed already worked GREAT and was made without sanding, I think, which protects the surface of the cane from exposure.

I’ve heard that good reed makers try to keep from using sandpaper, on both the inside and outside surfaces, because it makes the cane rough and more vulnerable in several ways, moisture just being one. They use gouges only on the inside, and whittling type knife blades only on the outer surface. Some reed makers do rub (polish) the inner surface on certain types wood to help seal it before assembly.

4

On 2002-12-03 12:09, Lorenzo wrote:
If there’s a chart that shows the surface of an uilleann pipe reed, and where exactly to scrape for certain effects, send us the link, as I have never seen one. I’m guessing it is similar to other reeds.

There should have been a simple diag of reed zones for scraping in the Handbook thats on http://www.swaup.orgwebsite (Larry Climos hb for ups and the updated reedmaking guide in pdf format).

But, may I venture that a proper hollow ground reedmakers knife is the best of all. You can see exactly what your doing at all times, and control is easy. “Ne’er a slip twixt knife and reed” or something…

Sanding is an essential part of reedmaking, as when used with the correct formers you gain the symmetry required for a good reed, which you can’t get with a gouge If you like to polish off afterwards then no problem. I find the very fine silicone based paper is the best, no clog, stays sharp for ages.
Cheers
Alan

5

Yesterday , all my troubles seemed so far away , anyway , back to the subject of reeds . I like to sand the inside surface , but also think there is somthing to finishing the outside off by scraping with a bow razor , or similar oboe reed knife . I don’t tend to see reedmaking as an exact science , so I usually will sand the inside to 220. If all goes well , I can tweek the reed enough so that It will play great like that . If the cane is good , I find that sanding the inside to ,say 300 grit is too much and the reed is too slippery on the inside, making it too tricky to play . I have not had good luck with just purely scraping the inside arch, with a curved razor , but I heard a rumor " somewhere" that that is how the old boys did it . I think furnature makers would scrape a fine piece too smooth the grain ?? I don’t know , but finishing with a scrape on the outside seems to do somthing for reeds . My 3 cents. :slight_smile:. T.K.
Oh , anyone ever heard of sanding the inside with a piece of sharkskin (??).

[ This Message was edited by: tok on 2002-12-04 00:06 ]

6

This is the other thread I was thinking of on using sandpaper on cane.

7

Hello to you all,

This is my first post on this Forum.

I am a violin maker by trade, Uilleann piper by inclination, and a fairly competent reed-maker.

The questions posed by TOK also arise in violinmaking. Horsetail has been traditionally used to polish both the inner and outer surfaces of violin bodies for centuries. It is used AFTER the complete surface has been gone over with a sharpened scraper.

However, the use of a true Sharkskin is not evident. What the classical makers used was the skin of the Dogfish, a species of small shark; with a much finer “tooth” to its’ skin. The actual effect of using such a material is to cut the surface of the wood, rather than to abrade it. This is analogous to the difference between using a file and a rasp. The Dogfish skin was used before the final scraping.

As a rule I tend not to polish the inside of a reed too much, and usually achieve the final internal shape and finish by using a scraper, pre-shaped to the ideal curve of the interior. I make the scrapers from the blades of machine hacksaws; they take a sharp edge, and keep it.

I hope this helps someone. If you need to read up on horsetail and dogfish then please consult Simone Sacconi’s work “The Secrets of Stradivari”

Mike

8

Barry O’Neill said that old pipers used bits of broken glass for scrapers; this was in an article on searching for Patsy Touhey’s ancestral home in Galway.

9

Welcome from your lurkerdom, Mike. Even if Evertjan has reached some sort of nirvana level of agnosticism :wink: it’s fascinating to see all the little gems of knowledge being brought out and shared.


But (gulp) what’s the difference between a file and a rasp?

10

Kevin:

It’s no surprise to me that anyone would use broken glass. Obsidian -essentially volcanic glass- is the sharpest thing known to humanity, thinning down to a single molecule’s thickness at a freshly cut edge. I’m not sure if Manmade glass is the same, but it’s still orders of magnitude sharper than metal.

Some surgeons use obsidian blades for eye surgery, because when you’re cutting at a molecular level, you’re actually splitting covalent bonds, not damaging cellular structure, pushing molecules apart as opposed to ripping flesh.

Off-topic, I know, but there you have it.

Mark

11

Roger, a rasp is much rougher than a file. The teeth are actually perforations in the blade on a rasp, whereas a file’s teeth are actually ridges that stand up from the blade’s surface.

djm

12

Thanks, dj. So I can take the cheese-grater out of my reedmaking toolbox, then?

13

I was shown scraping with broken glass by a fellow some time back, and it semed to work a treat. I don’t know how many times you can use one piece, but I just don’t trust myself with sharp objects that don’t have handles…

Alan

14

What about the use of Bodhran skins? :slight_smile:

Sorry couldn’t resist, was at a Bodhran infested session last night…
Evertjan

15

Or did you come out of a coffee house with a Dutch rush?

Collective nouns:

an infestation of bodhran players
alt.: a skinful of bodhran players

an obsidian of reedmakers

16

I haven’t found a local source for the Dutch rushes yet, but say I do find them, how exactly are you applying them to the reed? Do you hold it perpendicular to the reed and work from the staple down? Do you scrub up and down with the grain, or only stroke in one direction?

How about applying them to the inner side of the reed? I would guess this is something you would do before tying up the reed to the staple, but same questions as above as to how to apply.

I haven’t tried burnishing reeds before, but am always open to try something new.

Thx,

djm

17

DJM…for the exterior, sound like you have the picture. Hold the stick perpendicular to the reed , scrape with the grain, lightly, only couple of strokes in the right place, first (I left the backbone, or table, alone and polished the second scrape area). I wouldn’t know how to get the pieces to fit on the interior…maybe a large piece lying parallel to the trough?