which dimensions do you vary? Do you increase/decrease the thickness at the lips, shape of the aperture…?
dave boling
No, keep your usual dimensions. Make sure to allow time for the reed to settle at each step.
The differences only really come out when you do the final sand/scrape. They have more to do with how the reed is reacting to the dryness than changes to your regular dimensions - at least, that is my experience.
Make a good, hard reed and play it into submission. My best reed was done this way and has lasted for four years, now.
djm
I live in the San Joaquin Valley in Central CA where the average annual rain fall is about 10 inches so ttechnically it is a desert. and I must agree with DJM
In addition to his comments I would add that the best way to make a reed that will play in dry conditions is to make the reed some where that has very low humidity.
Good luck and keep making them. I just read in an other thread that it took three weeks to make 30 OK reeds only one of which was great and that was in the arid wastelands of Waterford 
Agreed, but don’t make it too hard, that could lead to personal injury. You may also want keep the slip a tiny bit thicker than what is otherwise normal. As djm pointed out, sand it down to where it plays nicely, if a tad stiff, and then play it into submission.
Now is a good time to experiment, experiment, experiment.
Good luck!
My reed (which I’ve been playing since the early 80’s) seems impervious to our dryness here. A couple reedmakers who have examined it think that it is made out of California cane. They said that California cane is better for dry climates than Spanish cane because it is more flexible and that, for the same performance, is left thicker, making it more resistant to changes in humidity. Our humidity can go from 70% to 10% in a few minutes when the dreaded “Santa Ana” winds kick up.
I don’t know if this theory is correct (that thicker blades are more stable) but it’s what I was told by two very experienced reedmakers. So you may want to try using California cane.
Myself and a few other pipers know all too well about playing in dry climates… Especially my shoulders… And I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, just a different challenge is all.
Softer cane does seem to negate the effect of a dry climate better than harder cane. Although, IMHO, hard cane (and not all California cane is soft, just the stuff Ted Anderson knows how to find) can be used for making reeds used in dryer climates, but it may require thinner slips or thinner scrapes tp achieve the desired effect.
In my personal experience, I have found a softer cane works best (for me) when making reeds for arid playing conditions… but that’s not to say hard cane will not work. YMMV.
Aha, I’ve been pondering this very question, as I think I need to get an extra reed or two and don’t have the will/ability to make my own yet (I’m still wrestling with the second octave!).
So, do people have “summer” and “winter” reeds? (Humidity’s about 65% in the summer and 30% in the winter here; worse when the woodburning stove’s at work)
I used to have summer and winter reeds when I lived in North Carolina.
Humidity changes are still a concern here in Ireland, where indoors you can encounter anything from about 40% to 80% (the lower figure being due to central heating). My experience has been that a damp weather reed can usually be made to play well in drier weather, by additional thinning/scraping, but that when damp weather returns the back d may go unacceptably flat and/or tone may suffer, requiring a slight trim, and there are only so many such cycles that a reed can survive. I think the details of what works best may depend on the reed construction and reedmaking techniques; IMO a harder or thicker reed doesn’t work “better” in dry conditions but it may be possible to make it play by brute force, not my idea of fun. If you want a reed to play with your “normal” range of pressure in dry weather, at the same ‘elevation’, then I think you have to thin it.
Some really nice reeds seem to work well in a reasonable range of conditions, by a combination of slightly opening and closing the reed to change the elevation, maintaining a similar playing pressure over the seasons. Great when it works! In Ireland and much of Northern Europe I think this may be achievable, but perhaps not in parts of North America.
There may be some truth to the idea that softer cane works responds better to the thinning of the blades required to maintain compliant blades in dry conditions, but I am undecided about that, other than the fact that softer can is more pleasant to work with in general.
Bill
Thank you! My flutes definitely respond to humidity; in particular my two from Ireland get very happy on rainy/high humidity days. In the few weeks I’ve had my practice set, I’ve already noticed a difference in my chanter reed as well – it seems to require more effort and produces a more “brittle” tone when the humidity’s down.
Again, thanks for the insight!
When making a reed for dry weather
Have it made in dry weather.
PD.
Utterly profound there Padre’… 
I have been using a VERY small amount of almond oil applied to the base of the reed and then allowing the oil to travel up the blades via cappilary action , and the result seems to be that the reed will open up . then it makes sense that it will be better in dry air . It took a while to get past the Idea of using oil on a reed but , it is better than sitting there stareing at a totally closed otherwise perfect reed and getting nothing . Should be no schortages of almond oil in california , lol .tom
There’s nothing new to the idea of soaking the reed in oil. Some people on this forum have been using neatsfoot oil for many years. The trouble is trying to catch enough neats to do the job …
djm
And soaking to get the oil out of the feet as well
I am about to attempt my first reed making, seeing that my current reed is already not liking the winter. And it’s still very early with winter not officially even here yet! So I figured it is time for a winter reed. Is there any opinion on what the coolest the environment should be for this? The area in which I will be doing most of the reed work is not directly heated and probably averages in the low 60’s or so. Will this be no problem, maybe even ideal for a “winter” reed, or should I move the work location to a warmer part of the house?
Thanks!
Ailin
A reed will always work best in the environment it was made in*
so it makes sense to make, or at least finish off, a reed in the conditions it will be played in.
Making reeds in the cold and dry and playing them in the warm and wet is better than the other way around. I make reeds at 15 degrees C or colder which work just fine in a warm sweaty gig environment. Take that reed to the desert and it will die.
If you are playing in a freezing cold barn or cowshed, then make your reeds in said cowshed. If full of cows, which have humid breath, then make them breathe on your bellows inlet if they breathed on the reed as it was being made. But don’t let them look to closely at your bag (it may be Aunt Matilda!!)
\
- though like just about everything else about this instrument there are exceptions
“A reed will always work best in the environment it was made in”
Absolutely true. Chris Bayley makes new reeds for his pipes at the St. Chartier and Boulegan Festivals in France each year. The weather conditions in the two areas are like chalk and cheese. 105 degrees in St Chartier (July) and 65 degrees in Boulegan (March). This ensures that his pipes will play well straight out of the case, whereas other manufacturers and makers have had severe problems when the weather heats up or humidity fluctuates. This is also true of mouth blown pipes. One GHB maker has to play his pipes every fifteen minutes at St Chartier, because if he doesn’t his reeds dry up and collapse. The Breton pipers, and Gaita players, playing on reeds made in the same environment do not have any problems.
Also, at Boulegan, you can just drive around and harvest as much free reed cane as you can carry home. I plan on getting 20 kilos or so this year
Here’s a photo of me last year, calculating how much of the damn stuff I can cut down and take home:
As you said, there are exceptions… the above seems to be the opposite of my own experience/impressions. I wonder why? Mind you, I rarely make reeds in really wet/hot conditions, but I seem to have more trouble with dry-made reeds in wet weather than with reeds made at ~60%RH or so in drier conditions (though sometimes thinning is required). Perhaps >70%RH reeds would be another story…
Bill
Let us also take into account the environment and climate where the cane for any given reed is made. There are a few variables in this regard that ought to be be considered. No?