Knives for oboe reeds

[Joel Goodman]

I'm posting this here as I hope the woodcarvers can advise me. My cousin is a professional oboist and I sharpened one of the knives she uses to carve oboe reeds with, and she wanted to get advice about waterstones as she liked the result. The "carving" involves shaping the bamboo (I think) reed with a short knife. It is a painstaking process. So what grits do you woodcarvers sharpen to? Do you go to 8K as we do with planes or would 4K be enough? Is there an oboist in the house!??? Thanks!

[Chris Fournier]

A friend of mine plays oboe/basson and makes her own reeds, I was lucky enough to watch her do it and have a crack at it myself. Professional no. I also make cane flyrods which is largely plane oriented work. At a certain point I find that the correct geometry trumps the level of finish when it comes to getting good results in bamboo. I usually stop at 4000 with planes for bamboo and knives 1200. I think that 8000 would be a pretty big waste of effort on your friend's knife. As with all sharpening questions, this is but one opinion among many; all of which are contrary to mine!

[george wilson]

I made some reed knives for the Music Teacher's Shop out of thickness planer blades.,which was what they wanted. I think they rely upon scraping as much as upon cutting. They wanted the bevel left pretty much as it was in the planer. I didn't USE the knives,though,just made them. Left them to do the spit scraping!!!!:)

[Chris Fournier]

I showed my friend the broken glass trick and she uses it on her reeds as well as the knife.

[Jim Koepke]

I am not sure of the correct answer here. Since the need is for a particular tool and not a whole shop of tools the simple and inexpensive solution might be to buy slip stones.

At the Lee Valley web site woodworking index click on sharpening, then under sharpening stones and sets click on pocket & slip water stones, from there, my first choice would be traditional water slip stones.

A pair of 1000 & 4000 is not real expensive. Many local woodworking stores also carry that set. There is also an 8000 available by it self.

jtk

[Pam Niedermayer]

If her knife isn't single sided beveled, you might want to try the this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00032S02K). I use it in the kitchen for smaller knives, and it seems to do just fine. It sure is a lot cheaper than a waterstone.

Pam

[george wilson]

I don't like those sharpeners because they tend to leave a small burr along the knife edge,which you don't want wiped off into your food and eaten. Especially stainless steel burrs. If I use one of those at all,I follow it by honing the burr off,and dragging the edge through a wooden corner until I am sure the burr is all gone. The same applies to those electric knife sharpeners. They grind a coarse edge,leaving the possibility (a likely possibility) of a ragged burr. the average housewife or husband doesn't realize how dangerous these devices are.

The reason you see these edges cutting magically through sheets of paper,when these sharpeners are advertised on T.V.,is that the extremely thin burr catches on the paper,and cuts it. Impressive,but not really sharp.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Thanks, George. I've only had this sharpener a few weeks, and it seemed to spiff up the edges of a few small knives. I'll make sure to look for a burr and knock it off.

However, I don't know that this is an issue with cutting reeds.

Pam

[Brian Kent]

And the broken glass trick is… ?

[Jim Koepke]

Broken glass has a sharp edge. Some will use it for scraping.

jtk

[george wilson]

I think a burr left on a reed would probably show up. I did get a sharp burr in my lip from a steak knife a while back. It was there from the factory. Luckily,I got it out myself. It was stainless,too.