Demo videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIsZFQZuUXM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_2uXrfhyG0&feature=channel&list=UL
Links to the website:
http://www.reedsntools.nl/
http://www.reedsntools.nl/index.php?page=shop.browse&category=&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=136&lang=en
I don’t know if these are (yet) suitable for uilleann pipe reeds, but the video makes them most appealing.
Boyd
I could see using the gouger, but would a profiler be of use for UP reeds?
I think Michael O’Donovan wrote a pretty comprehensive article on the use of machines in reedmaking.
Loving that gouger! I think I could make it work! I’ll bet those machines are dearrrrr!
12-1300Euro for the machines. Also, I read that they are supposed to have a gouger for UPs “this year.”
That’s over $1,600. 
I’ll stick with my incannel gouge, sanding block and sandpaper (all acquired for less than $50).
Very pretty machines. But do you really make 12-18 reeds at a go? At the cost, perhaps a club might be interested. Oboe and Bassoon reeds are throways. Uilleann reeds not so much. To a reedmaker this is an additional overhead expense and requires the usual cost/benefit analysis.
Wet reed players are slaves to the ptyalin curve and the vagaries of an exposed reed. UP reeds are hostages to fortune as well, but extremes in their environment can be managed to a degree, and fumble-fingers can be educated/curbed.
I’ve been sentenced to self-imposed tool poverty before, and doodads like these have often been the cause. But a little mechanical savvy can help you to make some unpretty lashups that may serve just as well at a fraction of the cost. End of rant. 
Bob
Those jigs do lend a uniformity to the reed and cuts down on dust. It also seems you would lose some of the nuances of a good Uilleann chanter reed. Has this been used to make successful Uilleann chanter reeds? Are there different diameter cylinders available?
But ye cats the price! Someone with a modest machine shop at their disposal could perhaps rig something similar.
I’ll bet John Ward could make a machine like that!
That machine would not affect nuance. That has everything to do with the cane, the outer scrape, and a host of other variables… like the rotation of the earth, etc.!!!
I’d agree with Brazenkane: the machine doesn’t enter the realm of nuance much. A short stroll down the Oboe and Bassoon aisle along with a few conversations along the way will tell you the real value of the machines are time savings, and predictability, as well as reduction of wastage. Oboes are fairly standardized, with room for personal preferences. Bassoons are a little more variable, but the variables stay in the same ballpark. A good oboist will tell you that he wants a stable of reeds in various stages and most would much rather practice than spend time making reeds. It’s a chore, and only an avocation for a few. For professionals the expense of the machine evens out with the volume of reeds they can go through. I think anyone who has dealt with our dry reeds very much at all can easily agree with Brazenkane that there are seemingly unaccountable variations in cane. . .even with the precision and predictability available to the machines there are variations. . .sometimes a lot of cane will give several serviceable reeds, and then suddenly produce a superb reed, one that makes you seem much better than you really are.
I believe it was Craig Fischer who said “At the end of the day, we are at the mercy of a couple of bits of dried grass.”
Bob
IIRC, Rory, our friend and contributer, replied in another thread with his home made machine approach to slip preparartion. It looked good to me, and affordable. Some machine skills needed to adapt his basic tools to the job in question, but again doable.
I guess a search under his name would get thos interested to the relavant page.
I am quit happy gougeing away. I can produce a pretty repeatable slip by hand these days. Just took hours and hours of practice. Doesn’t take long now either.
Pwrt
We have the gouger and profiler from this company for our Northumbrian pipe reeds, and as professionals we are very pleased with our investment, although we thought long and hard before buying. The machines are extremely well designed and built and the resulting reeds are first class, after a small amount of hand finishing. As has been mentioned, the main thing is the predictability and repeatability of the process, resulting in a big saving of time. And a better product for the customer.
Using a gouger for UP reeds is a straightforward thing to do. I use the gouger for my ( very amateur) UP reeds as a timesaver, although the actual gouge radius is not quite right so I can only go so far before hand-working takes over.
The profiler is a different matter. The smallpipes reed profile is basically a cylindrical cut produced by the rotating barrel, tapering in thickness evenly along the length. I think the UP profile is more complex and would require a re-think on the machine. I am sure it is possible to build a machine which will produce more complex profiles, but the profile is fixed by the design and setup, so you would have to be absolutely certain what you wanted (to the last thou) before you bought, and once set up it is fairly difficult to change the profile.
Cheers
Richard
As well remembered by Pipewort heres my home made version. I only made it because I didn.t have a suitable gouge but had the bits and pieces to make gouger thingy.
RORY
Some of the commercial bassoon reed makers use a high-speed diamond cutter to gouge the cane in one pass. Sharpening a metal gouger blade is tricky to keep the radius. The diamond cutter only needs to be professionally re-sharpened after ten thousand slips. A slip can be done in a few seconds with the motorized machine. The one I saw was built for about $800, and once set up, can do piles of reeds. Set up takes a lot of time if you use a different radius for different reeds. A typical gouging machine will only produce one radius. With the variety of different double reeds most pipers must make, a one-size-only machine is a bit expensive. Perhaps a couple or three blades of different radii and different bed curves to fit different cane diameters could be made up at huge expense.
btw.. u can order first class argetinian selected canetubes(A.Donax) from reeds &tools.Price 50euros/kg.
The gouger rocks! And if there was a way to modify that profiler to work a scrape … oooooh. I would covet that.
Cathy, I direct you to my other thread about this topic…
