I have a composite set of drone reeds made of brass with thin balsa tongue that I recd from Ben Koehler …I am working on setting up C set and for stability I am embarking on making composites from brass …Does anyone know exactly how the tongue bed is opened on the brass…Grinder? perhaps or could someone give me Benedict’s phone number??? I wish to confirm the process and the wood used for the tongue…I am all out of cane reed and thought this composite brass works and looks easy to make but want to do it right. 
Where the hell is David Power when you need him? I’m in the thick of pipe maintenance and it feels as if I am making things worse everytime I go at it. No frustration here
Lord knows that I’m not an expert but it was suggested to me that you take sandpaper and place the sheet on a flat sheet of flat glass then pick your angle and grind down the brass by hand.
This was terribly slow (or I have a short attention span) so I discovered there is a “V” grove in the small hobby-vice I have. I clamped the brass and then took a fairly aggressive bastard file to it. I used the sandpaper on glass trick to fine-tune it at the end.
I have made dozens of them. I have a 1" belt sander (stands on the bench, not a hand held belt sander) that I shape them with using 100 grit belts, and then perfect them on finer grits of paper on a piece of glass. With the belt sander, just be sure to not burn your fingers, as the metal gets hot quickly!
The sandpaper on glass method works fine for the brass body. Koehler uses the sugar pine off the backs of old piano keys for the tongues.
djm
Leistman 
You made my first composite drone! We ya been? ..thanks for the info I have a belt sander…do I use plyers to avoid the burn?
A second cut mill/bastard file will work well for removing the bulk of material. Then you can finish up with the sanding belt. Hold the tube with a set of round needle nose pliers. Don’t use a grinding wheel as brass and non ferrous metals will easily clog it up.
Liestman wrote:
I have made dozens of them. I have a 1" belt sander (stands on the bench, not a hand held belt sander) that I shape them with using 100 grit belts, and then perfect them on finer grits of paper on a piece of glass. With the belt sander, just be sure to not burn your fingers, as the metal gets hot quickly!
John,
At approximately what angle do you grind the reed bed?
Thanks…Sandpaper on glass is a foreign concept to me??? Pardon my ignorance. In the meantime I am, still hunting down piano keys 
Thanks…Sandpaper on glass is a foreign concept to me??? Pardon my ignorance. In the meantime I am, still hunting down piano keys
“Sandpaper on glass” litteraly means to find a piece of flat glass (like a window pane); lay it flat on your work table and put a bit of sand papaer (rough side up) on top of the glass.
The idea is thatthe glass is about as uniformly level a surface as you will ever need. So, with a steady hand, one might make pretty exact grinds/shapes. My hands are not that steady and my patience needs work. The vertical belt sander sounds much more fun.