I think there was a thread a while back regarding finding something to provide one’s fingers more gripping power when sanding cane slips against a sandpaper-covered cylinder. Unfortunately I was unable to locate it and had to put this on an entirely new thread.
In any event, I went to a crafts store today and bought a pack of Scotch double-sided 3/4" removable tape (it comes in a permanent version as well, so look out!) and it really works in this capacity like a charm. You can cover the bark side of the cane and move your fingers around on top of it to give pressure where needed. It easily comes right off when you’re done.
Happy New Year.
Sounds like it beats licking cane dust off you fingertips.
What about those little rubber thimble thingys old ladies in offices have used for decades?
Maybe you are just applying too much pressure down on the slip. I used to have the same bother, but lightly holding the slip and letting the sandpaper do the work seems to have eliminated the problem.
I was never too impressed about having to sand one half of the slip at a time, so many passes on either end to try to keep the slip thickness even. I now place the slip in the shooting board, internal side up, and sand 2/3’s of the slip at the same time, pressing down on the very end of the slip at the stop. I get a much more even finish this way (with the sanding block much more likely to be flat on the cane), though it is a little hard on the shooting board. But then, I had a whole board routed to size, so have numerous spares/replacements.
What might help too is if your gouge work is good enough; so that only a minimum amount of sanding is required.
Pwt
Thanks Khan,
Seems like a good idea, will certainly try it.
Hi Brian,
I tried event that and it didn’t help me at all.
Thanks,
Dan
I understand your point. I should have mentioned that the problem is in the initial stages of sanding when the inside surface is roughest. Once I get it going, I can do what you advise and it works out fine. Thanks for the tip.
I usually just scrub some beeswax on the bark side of the slip.
Yep. I think that I’ve swallowed enough cane dust now to be a health issue!
Any luck with in trying to fabricate that tool?
Hi Darth. Well, to start off, I just got back from the Harpers Ferry tionol, which was fantastic. As always, Jerry O’Sullivan gave the best instruction and performances imaginable and it was nice to meet up with other pipers (et al) there.
Nate Banton was also there and gave a mini workshop in making border pipe reeds (Nate’s a very nice knowledgeable fellow who posts here from time to time). He explained that he is very much a student of Benedict Koehler’s technique and had fashioned one of these things out of a quarter inch piece of tool steel (he said that if he makes another one, he’d use a thinner piece of steel, but this one really worked quite well [as well as BK’s worked on the NPU “Heart of the Instrument” DVD]). The really neat thing about the tool vis-a-vis a gouge was that you can lift up the cutting edge by pushing down a tad on the handle to prevent digging into the cane too much.
However, in the meantime I have been scraping slips with a molding/contour scraper,* followed by a cabinet scraper (the slip is held in the Koehler modified shooting block while this is done). After that I use sandpaper on a cylinder and end up with a fairly decent slip for further modification.
*One of these gizmos:
http://www.castlewholesalers.com/ALLWAY-CS6-Soft-Grip-Contour-Scraper-Set-w-File-6-Blades.html