I bought Cobblers wax from Ted Anderson and have 2 questions:
Which thread would be best to use with this wax? In their videos, Benedict Koehler suggests dental tape (unwaxed?) & Finbar Furey a thread which is a bit elastic (he don’t say what he use)? Which of these 2 you find to work better??? Something available online in Europe would be simplest for me. Any idea or link what & where to get it? I wouldn’t like to use hemp!
Should I soften this wax with candle before I want to use it?
I bought that same wax from Ted, and find that I have to soften it to use it, either by holding it in my hand for a while or putting a bit in the microwave oven for a short time.
You can use nylon thread sold for binding oboe reeds for a bit of stretch. It comes in colors but it all turns black if you use the cobbler’s wax on it. The shoe thread is about the same as hemp. Some use Dacron thread from a sail repair shop.
Break off a small piece of the wax and roll it around in your fingers for a minute. Dragging the thread through the piece of wax will warm it up by friction. It takes several pulls through the hemp to coat it thoroughly. After a few pulls the wax is quite soft and warm. No need for the microwave or hair dryer. Best to use a small pea-sized piece than a big lump of the wax. If using shoe thread or hemp, you need to pull the collected fuzz from the piece of wax every few pulls or it plugs up the wax and makes it hard to coat the thread. Some wax up the hemp then double it up and twist it together by holding one end of the threads and roll the threads on your pant leg until twisted. Re-pull the twisted thread though the wax for a final coat.
Good ideas - thanks to everyone. I gues I just need to start with something & then I will see. Anything wrong with dental tape? I would think if it’s good enought for Benedict, it can’t be wrong way to go, but all the examples I saw in shops here are waxed and with mentol, fluor ect. So mybe I Will just use the Oboe thread. Thanks
Benedict Koehler has a hard time finding un-waxed dental tape. He gets it through a piper whose wife works for a dentist. It doesn’t seem to be available OTC. He prefers it because it doesn’t stretch. Use what you will. The main thing is to get a good coat of wax on the thread. After binding roll the wrap between thumb and finger to make the reed airtight. Black wax is common on antique reeds. You sometimes see raw hemp or yellow linen used which is coated with shellac on old reeds. This wrap cannot be untied to adjust the insertion depth of the staple into the head and reused afterwards. The cobbler’s wax may need to have a few more passes of wax added to it if you unbind and retie the reed.
I just got some thread that is a blend of polyester and linen. Good size for reed making and takes the wax well. It is very strong so you can bind very tightly. Haven’t been able to break it by hand. Almost no stretch so you end up with a very rigid binding, which is what I prefer. Could send samples for a dollar in the US. PM me if you want to try it.
The poly/linen thread is working great as a reed binding. I have gotten it to a couple of reed makers who are ordering rolls of it. I am selling it for $5.00 per roll. I do not have it listed yet on my website; piperssupply.com, so you will have to ask for reed binding thread. Get some cobblers’ wax at the same time and you are all set.
