learning the craft of reedmaking.

[eran]

how would you recommend getting started?

i guess the DVD from NPU would be good...
how about the tools and metirials?
any recommendation for a begginer?

im just after ordering a new chanter so im trying to keep the expences low...

cheers
eran.

[PJ]

The best way is to go to a reedmaking workshop, but I guess that there aren't too many tionols in Israel.

The next best thing would be the DVD. Of course, it helps to read as much as you can about reedmaking. There are many free online manuels. There are also a few books in print which you can order from NPU.

[eran]

thanks, i have allready started reading a while back

getting the tools and materials is my problam now...
i have seen a few kits from makers and stuff on NPU, but, i just cant decide how to go about it and not in the position to try them all...

[PJ]

getting the tools and materials is my problam now...
i have seen a few kits from makers and stuff on NPU, but, i just cant decide how to go about it and not in the position to try them all...

Most of the other tools can be made or improvised. A good gouge and a good calipers are the only real investments you'll have to make, and they'll just cost about US$30 to $40 each.

A shooting block, for instance, is easy to make. You'll find measurements on Seth Gallagher's Reedmaking Workshop. Sanding blocks can be improvised from PVC pipes, beer bottles, wine bottles, etc. Some people use winders, but you can certainly get along without them. You can buy a madril for $5.

For cane and brass tubing, you can buy from NPU or from Nick Whitmer.

Go to it and good luck.

[carel]

or try
http://www.medir.org/

[Jim McGuire]

Mick Dooley, set up with his own B&B just outside of Tralee, can put someone (or a group) through the paces from start to finish on reed making (and wood turning, etc).
http://homepage.eircom.net/~teachanphiobaire/

[KAD]

A shooting block, for instance, is easy to make. .

Yeah, sure it is. First, you need a block of wood the right size. If you don't already have lots of spare lumber lying around, and a power saw (or a handsaw, a very steady hand, and a couple of sawhorses), you're out a bit of money right there. Then you need to drill a hole in the block. More purchases: one drill, the right size bit, clamps to hold the wood while you're drilling it-- and possibly some sort of workbench to which to clamp the clamps. And a place in which to store and use all these tools. It's not easy for apartment dwellers, that's for sure.

It never fails to amuse me when people who talk about reedmaking assume that everyone has a whole shop full of tools and materials with which to make the tools with which to make the reeds. I once went to a workshop in which the teacher passed around A) a lovely scraping tool made from a circular saw blade and B) another tool made by grinding down a knife to the perfect angle and sharpness. Amazing craftsmanship -- but do I even own, or can I operate, a bench grinder? No. Will I ever use a circular saw enough to wear out a blade enough to reshape it into a reedmaking tool? No. I once went to another workshop in which the teacher brought out a neat little hand-held butane torch, normally used for creme brulee, and employed it for annealing copper. An audible murmur of desire and gadget envy swept around the room as he brought it out. This confirmed what I have always suspected: that reedmaking is just another excuse to buy tools!

The old fellas didn't have all that stuff. I saw Kevin Henry make a reed with a pair of pliers, a penknife, and a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a borrowed cylinder. Everything he needed could fit into his pipecase. If I ever get into reedmaking, that'll be my approach. But first I have to get over this compulsive fear of bench-grinders.

[Jim McGuire]

The old fellas didn't have all that stuff.

But they did. The people that made pipes on a semi-professional or professional basis invariably fashion/acquire their own tools to speed up and improve the process. The end result can be the same but scaling up is important to some people. Whether or not it makes sense for the beginner is a good question.

a borrowed cylinder.

Beer bottles work fine.

bench-grinders

about $30.

I saw Kevin Henry make a reed with a pair of pliers, a penknife, and a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a borrowed cylinder. Everything he needed could fit into his pipecase.

Kevin Henry's technique is fine and similar to Paddy Keenan's in portability and expediency - Paddy and Kevin make reeds at will anywhere they want to and that's a real model to look at!

[Doogie]

Reedmaking's easy.. Jes will tell you...

You put a staple, gouged slip,some waxed thread, a piece of sandpaper, and a quarter under your pillow before you go to sleep.. and In the night the reed fairie will replace your payment with the finished reed.. Add a nickel for flat pitched reeds...

[Tony]

how would you recommend getting started?

Follow this link:
http://www.howardmusic.co.uk/up_reeds_reedmaking.htm

[PJ]

A shooting block, for instance, is easy to make. .

Yeah, sure it is. First, you need a block of wood the right size. If you don't already have lots of spare lumber lying around, and a power saw (or a handsaw, a very steady hand, and a couple of sawhorses), you're out a bit of money right there. Then you need to drill a hole in the block. More purchases: one drill, the right size bit, clamps to hold the wood while you're drilling it-- and possibly some sort of workbench to which to clamp the clamps. And a place in which to store and use all these tools. It's not easy for apartment dwellers, that's for sure.

That's a complicated way of making a shooting block. I took a 4" long piece of 4x2 and gouged a channel in it. Then I screwed two other pieces of 4x2 to each end of the gouged 4x2. It took about 20 minutes from start to finish. I used a #6 gouge, a 12V battery powered drill and 4 screws.

The old fellas didn't have all that stuff. I saw Kevin Henry make a reed with a pair of pliers, a penknife, and a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a borrowed cylinder. Everything he needed could fit into his pipecase.

That's certainly what we should be shooting for. Leo Rowsome supposedly made reeds with a straight razor and little else. I've heard of people making reeds with only a Stanley knife, a few sheets of sandpaper and a beer bottle for a sanding cylinder.

[fgibbons]

A shooting block, for instance, is easy to make. .

Yeah, sure it is. First, you need a block of wood the right size. If you don't already have lots of spare lumber lying around, and a power saw (or a handsaw, a very steady hand, and a couple of sawhorses), you're out a bit of money right there. Then you need to drill a hole in the block. More purchases: one drill, the right size bit, clamps to hold the wood while you're drilling it-- and possibly some sort of workbench to which to clamp the clamps. And a place in which to store and use all these tools. It's not easy for apartment dwellers, that's for sure.

That's a complicated way of making a shooting block. I took a 4" long piece of 4x2 and gouged a channel in it. Then I screwed two other pieces of 4x2 to each end of the gouged 4x2. It took about 20 minutes from start to finish. I used a #6 gouge, a 12V battery powered drill and 4 screws.

I did the exact same thing! Sawing the 2x4 was the hardest part, but you just hold it down on the kitchen chair, and go at it with a $5 handsaw - it only takes a few minutes. Gouging the channel was a little tough, I think because the crooked grain in my 2x4 was leading the gouge astray, but I smoothed it out with a little sandpaper wrapped around a wine-bottle cork, and never looked back.... Sure it's a little clunky to look at - if you have pieces of hardwood lying around, you could probably make a much more slim-lined one. But it does the job.

[billh]

I do think that the uniformity, or lack thereof, of the shooting board can influence your success. A nice straight, even bed on the board helps you achieve the all-important symmetry in the slip. You can get by with less, but ...

[teirw]

Tonys link to Brian Howard is a good one. Brian can supply a reedmaking kit including everything needed, along with a DVD. I wish this had been available when I started. Learning with the kit is easy because you can not only see the dimensions and thicknesses to aim for but you can feel them too. After making a few that way doing the complete thing for yourself is very much easier. The staples that Brian supplies are excellent and can be re-used as often as you need. Most people don't want a kilo of cane. Brian will sell you individual sticks, or any quantity you need, and the advantage is that you then have your sticks individually selected by a pipemaker with over thirty years experience rather than a bunch of variable sizes and quality. Give him a ring, or send an Email, and he will help you out.

[Joseph E. Smith]

To date, my favorite reed manual is the one that can be downloaded from NPU (once you have become a member), Dave Hegarty's The Uilleann Pipe Reedmaker's Guidance Manual.

Second would be the reedmaking manual from Davy Stepheson's now defunct website. But I believe that the manual is still on the web... somewhere.

Here is nice sized list of links to reedmaking resources which was compiled by our own Anima... http://www.animavitae.com/uilleann/reedmaking.htm

He also includes these notes from Davy Stephenson...

http://uilleannforum.com/reedmaking/stevenson/