8/10 of reeds i’ve been tryin to make leak air at the sides
side on view:
the blades are closed at the lips and down for few mm and the blades are closed at the binding and up for a few mm…but theres a slight opening between these points on both sides
anyone know the cause?
It may be a function of the shape of the blades. If all you’re doing with the tails is rounding off the shoulders, try carving into the diagonals to produce a more bottle-shaped curve. Worked for me.
Are you gouging out the interior of the tails for the staple and/or carving a “tone chamber”? I do this, and if I don’t do the “bottled” shape above, I invariably get that gap.
Hope this helps.
Have a look here:
thanks for replies
i do gouge the tails and tone chamber but i put straight edges on tails…i’ll try the bottle shape tails to start with an see how that goes
if that dont work i’ll work me way thro the 101 other possiblies from the other threads in a process of elimination, should keep me busy lol
I have had similar problems in the past.
I don’t know if I have the answer as to why. However, I think the degree to which the staple is inserted into the cane has something to do with it.
Never the less, on scraping the reed head where this has happened to me, these troublesome gaps have tightened up. I then sealed the edges, to ensure an airtight seal, and got the reeds playing.
It may also be the thickness of the canes edge, if the gap does not close up, that might be the issue too. I also recall that Cillian O’ Brien said I think, on the NPU DVD Reed making volume, to insert the staple into the formed reed head as far as it is comfortably tight; not over-tight, nor too loose. Adjust length to that comfortableness after binding and scaping. But it is also true as said earlier that taking the corners off the shoulders helps draw the reeds edges down along the remaining exposed edges above the binding. The more even distribution of forces, vesus a directional one.
Good luck - and Don’t give up
Concerning the leaky sides
After you have formed the reed slip and then cut this in half so that you now have two blades rub each blade on a perfectly flat surface with the lightest of your sand papers, this will form a flat that will allow the edges to seal better. ( A piece of glass is a good flat surface,its what i use). But rub each blade no more that up-down-up. Anymore and you will distort the shape that all the gouging and sanding has just formed. All the best, hope this helps