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MY BLANK-MAKING PROCESS 

trimming tube cane with a clarinet cane cutter
Trimming

After selecting the highest quality pieces of tube cane, I trim each piece of cane to size with a Reeds 'n Stuff cane cutter. My clarinet blanks are 70 mm long, but I can make them to any length if requested.

Trimmed piece of clarinet tube cane
pre-gouging clarinet cane
Pre-Gouging

I pre-gouge each piece with a planing bed and block plane. This saves time and also saves the life of the blades on my gouging machine.

Gouging/Planing

I plane each piece of cane with a custom-made Reeds 'n Stuff gouging machine. It allows each piece to be precisely planed at specific heights. 

gouging machine
2 planed pieces of clarinet cane

The resulting pieces come off the machine very flat and should only need to be lightly sanded to the desired thickness. 

shaping machine set with clarinet reed as model

clarinet reed

Shaping

I can use the Reeds 'n Stuff shaping machine to easily make any shape of reed from E-flat clarinet to baritone saxophone due to its adjustable sizing capabilities.

shaping machine with bass clarinet reed as model

bass clarinet reed

clarinet blank ready for pre-profiling by pre-profiler
Pre-Profiling

If desired, I can also pre-profile each reed with a Reeds 'n Stuff pre-profiler for an extra fee.

pre-profiled reed
display of clarinet reed blanks as a fan shape
Contact
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