Finally figured out where I fit in this group

[Mary Ann]

"Repairs and Modifications Frustration" --- that is me trying to make an oboe reed. No discussion needed, just laugh and go on.

[Mark]

Recent quote from a very good, local, clarinetist: "She can't be a good oboist, she doesn't make her own reeds".

[Mary Ann]

You can tell that person that Heinz Holliger does not make his own reeds either, and never did.

[York-aholic]

[bloke]

our daughter -
a remarkable oboist, as well as a remarkable reed maker
(Just in case she stuck with playing the oboe, I insisted that she start learning how to make reeds at age 13, and not just being taught this from her private instructor - who probably wasn't the most amazing reed maker - nor knife sharpener, and owned no gouging machine, but - the playing instructor
- overcame those shortcomings in playing prowess.)

our daughter's Christmas present to her mother -
her very best reed. (Folks, you just can't buy reeds this good, and not even from people who sell handmade "professional" reeds.)

Something like this is an amazing tool for her mother to have. Anything from a Bundy to a Loree can be evaluated knowing that the problem is the instrument and not the reed.
As seldom as her mother will use it, she can make it last for quite a long time - as long as she wets it with water instead of spit, and cleans it with water or hydrogen peroxide for a short time - immediately after using it.

[The Big Ben]

That's pretty cool. I've always admired oboe and bassoon players. Both instruments are just... out there. When they play, it is a very important part and it's something that everyone in the hall can hear. And, when they are doing this, they are usually alone. If there is an errant squalk, the audience will go home and, in their post concert conversations, they will inevitably mention, "Did you hear that oboe squalk?" Getting back to the subject of this post, having a correctly cut reed will prevent many of these unfortunate mistakes.

[bloke]

Marcel Tabuteau didn't just establish a way to teach phrasing (to those who need a paint-by-number, or - really - most anyone), but also defined (as a Frenchman) the American school of oboe playing - via the particular style of reeds he made...which presented the resonance of the oboe more like a flute, and less like a trumpet.

That having been said, building his still of reeds is complex, and is a very high craft.

[Mary Ann]

My teacher made incredible reeds easily, but was never able to teach me how to do it -- I'd bring in one I'd spent an hour on, he would say "Oh it's just not finished," would do a flurry for about 30 seconds and it would be fine. But never explained the flurry. He DID teach me to play the oboe though and was the best teacher I ever had for anything (he also was mechanical, so the teaching actually made sense.) It didn't hurt that I already understood things like oral cavity shape, throat shape, and use of air. I still think my major problem is inability to correctly use a knife. But --- really, at this point in time, I have luckily forgotten how good his reeds were, and have become able to play on crap and make it work well enough for the amateur world.

[Bob Kolada]

our daughter -
a remarkable oboist, as well as a remarkable reed maker
(Just in case she stuck with playing the oboe, I insisted that she start learning how to make reeds at age 13, and not just being taught this from her private instructor - who probably wasn't the most amazing reed maker - nor knife sharpener, and owned no gouging machine, but - the playing instructor
- overcame those shortcomings in playing prowess.)

our daughter's Christmas present to her mother -
her very best reed. (Folks, you just can't buy reeds this good, and not even from people who sell handmade "professional" reeds.)

Something like this is an amazing tool for her mother to have. Anything from a Bundy to a Loree can be evaluated knowing that the problem is the instrument and not the reed.
As seldom as her mother will use it, she can make it last for quite a long time - as long as she wets it with water instead of spit, and cleans it with water or hydrogen peroxide for a short time - immediately after using it.

Knife sharpening in general is, unfortunately, almost a lost art today. Such a shame, especially with all the edc knife business. My 'contribution' to the woodwind aspect of this thread is that I played a little bass clarinet in high school and feel juussst confident enough that if I could afford to, I'd buy a bari sax or contralto clarinet just for fun. Hearing the contrabassoon bump around in the basement during Shostakovich 5 was a trip, I also remember hearing the low woodwinds in HS regional bands. From playing in a 20 person band with one trombonist playing tuba and one alto clarinet (none of the clarinet players wanted to play the school's new bass) to playing in a 80 person band with a deep section of contra clarinets and bassoons is quite a change.

[bloke]

With oboe knifes, curling the burr (at the end stage of sharpening) is important - as well as curling it in a certain direction.

Also, cheap oboe knives are typically made of soft steel, and (instead of USING them) the reed-maker ends up spending way too much time re-sharpening them. GOOD ones are NOT cheap.

[hrender]

The son of a friend is a very good bassoonist, plays in one of the local symphonies as a side gig and does occasional solos at church. I should ask him how he learned to make reeds as I'm sure that's a story in itself. His day job is science teacher, so I'm sure he can explain it better than the average person.

[bloke]

Making good bassoon reeds is just a little bit easier than making good oboe reeds, though making bassoon reeds - that work well with short bore bassoons - is just a little bit more challenging than making them for long bore bassoons.

With bassoon reads, most of the reed is the resonator (and everything in front of the wire is inserted into the mouth), as this is a bass instrument.

Quite a bit of an oboe reed is mostly a supporting area for the tip (whereby only the tip enters the mouth), yet - with American/Tabuteau-style oboe reeds - the support area has been upgraded (two pair of thinly-scraped "windows") to a resonator area.

[Mary Ann]

With oboe knifes, curling the burr (at the end stage of sharpening) is important - as well as curling it in a certain direction.

Also, cheap oboe knives are typically made of soft steel, and (instead of USING them) the reed-maker ends up spending way too much time re-sharpening them. GOOD ones are NOT cheap.

What's interesting is that my teacher did not use a burr, and did not slip the blades unless the reed was perfect but slightly flat, and then he slipped the blades to bring it up to pitch. I don't think he needed to do this on his own reeds though and only did it on reeds I was trying to "finish." What I have seen online (searching for teaching) is this Five Minute Reed Maker lady, and what she DOES -- LOOKS like what my teacher did. Wham-bang on the basic scrape, then the fiddling time on the finishing. When I was "trying" to learn it, I'd spend an HOUR getting the basic scrape. Because if I didn't, it would be Chunk Taken Out City, and yeah pretty sure it is knife sharpening lack. Meh. I recently got a ceramic knife that at least I can "dust" with, without mayhem. The steel knives *feel* sharp but must have a rough edge anyway. I have a couple reeds now that crow correctly but my chops don't last very long on them.

[Rick Denney]

The secret to sharpening knives is that you make them sharp first. If they are not sharp enough to slice hair with the coarsest stone, they won’t get any sharper with finer stones and hones. The finer hones don’t make them sharper; they make the cutting edge straighter at the scale of the grit on the hone. Beginner mistake (ask me how I know): moving to finer stones before it is sharp.

This is true no matter the cutting angle. It’s true for sub-10-degree razor blades, 20-degree kitchen knives, 26-degree everyday carry knives, 35-degree axes, 80-degree machine-tool cutters, or even 90-degree cabinet scrapers onto which one turns a cutting burr. (Mostly, we straighten the burr—this is what a kitchen steel is for—but not for scraping.)

I’ll bet you are right that your teacher’s first big secret is really sharp cutting tools.

Rick “suspecting practice might also be a factor” Denney

[bloke]

Everyone has their own techniques, their own way of setting up their tools, and everyone who does a repeated craft tends to get better and faster at doing it, yes?