reedmaking

Uilleann Pipes
1

I’m trying my hand at reedmaking (with cane, a first for me). A couple of questions for the experts out there.

How thick do you sand the reed? I’ve seen anywhere from 0.050 to 0.035. What do you guys do?

Do any of you soak the reed in something to make it more humidity stable?

How long do you leave the reed before scraping it?

Any tips for cutting the slip in half without cracking it? I’ve ruined three slips already today.

Jeff
Kansas City

[ This Message was edited by: anima on 2002-05-04 13:31 ]

2

Jeff,
When cutting slips, use a new blade, score the back side first, flip it over and place it on a sanding block (for support) then start from the middle and cut to the edge, rotate 180 degrees and cut the other side.
Go here for more notes:
http://www.uilleann.com/reeds.html
Evertjan 't Hart has two (essentially the same) reedmaking websites:
http://home.wxs.nl/~HartDD/Reed/reed.html
http://home.planet.nl/~HartDD/Reed/Intro.html
He cuts through the bark with the edge of a small file.

Practice re-cutting the pieces you’ve ruined.