Ummm... Kay.

Ok. Here's where the reeds come into play. (see! I remembered!!)
Wednesday afternoon, Kevin came to my house and we started making reeds. He felt like he is paying too much for reeds (and he probably is), so hewanted to larn how to make them himself. It's not too hard, but you need to make sure that you are precise with measurements and wiring, or else it can get ugly fast. For my reeds, I use a gouged, shaped, and profiled cane from Christlieb Products in California. It's usually a medium collar at 120mm overall length. I've tried a few different gouges and profiles, but I keep coming back to this one.

Here's what you'll need for making reeds:
1. At least six pieces of cane - GSP, unless you have the machinery to do it yourself or the patience to do it by hand and measure constantly...
2. A drying rack with space for at least six reeds to dry at a time.
3. One long-pointed forming mandrel (it will just be called a "forming mandrel")
4. Some 22-guage brass wire
5. A fingernail file
6. Butcher's twine (about two feet worth and probably more than just one string)
7. An easel or 3/4" dowel (not more than a foot long - cut it)
8. Pencil
9. Ruler - I use mm, but you can find measurements for inches
10. A good, sharp knife. I've got a double hollow ground knife
11. Needle-Nose pliers

Start off by soaking your cane. You can do this one of two ways: cold water (overnight), or hot water (boil in 5 minutes). With cold water, soak it overnight or until the pieces of cane fall to the bottom of your container. I use a tupperware container with a lid, just in case my dog knocks things over in the night. My usual M.O. is to boil the cane. Stick it in a pot on the stove and boil for five minutes or until it sinks to the bottom. I stick it in the microwave sometimes, and have a five minute boil time overall. When you get to that point, take out a piece at a time and, using the easel, mark the points where you will put the wires at forming time: 5mm, 19mm, and 26mm. These measurements will be from the butt end of the reed! Mark it with the pencil and then use the side of the fingernail file to make a small score in the bark of the cane. That way, in case the pencil gets rubbed off later, you still have the markings!

Using the knife, cut from about the point of the second wire to the butt end of the cane at approximately a 45-degree angle. This helps the cane form in a good circle and seal correctly later. Illustrating this, cut about the way the slash (/) interacts with the parenthesis. -----> ( / and also \ ) my image isn't great, but the 45s go toward the inside of the cane.

Next, score the cane using the tip of your sharp knife. You will need at least 8 cuts across the external "bark" of the cane on each end. Remember, this is a minimum. The more times, the better. Be careful, though, that you don't strip all the bark from the reed. With these, the end by the wire should be more or less superficial, with deep cuts at the end of the cane. It will be a nearly gradual depth increase from the wire to the butt. At this point, place the reed back into the water for a while while you work with the other pieces of cane. Finish those up and put them into the water, too. Soak a few pieces of butcher thread with the cane, then get ready for more FUN!!

Take one piece of cane and a piece of butcher string and get ready to wrap! Carefully fold that piece of cane in half. Until you know where half way is, you may need to mark this, too... But I should tell you that four paragraphs ago... Anyway - you can use the knife as a fulcrum, if you should desire. I don't just because I've made so many reeds that I do it with my fingers now! Once halved, (not severed, just folded over) wrap it with the wet butcher string. Go from the butt end up, up to the blade. Wrap again to the butt, and make a loop to secure it for now. Take your forming mandrel, and (if you wish) heat it up.

Place your reed at the tip of the mandrel. Start to push the reed onto the mandrel. Go slow and easy, if you move too quickly, your reed will crack ...bad! As you are going, push the mandrel in about 1/8 inch, rest, and repeat. Then, using needle-nose pliers, mash on the butt end of the reed. You want the reed to be round at this end! Mashing helps the reed take shape and allows the scoring to take maximum effect. Don't be too surprised if your first few reeds get serious cracks in them.

Begin removing the string to the point that you can see the shoulder of the reed cane. Take a 3- or -inch piece of brass wire and center it on the back of the reed at your top mark. Wrap the two ends of the wire around the sides of the reed, holding closely to the sides of the cane. On the opposite side, when the two ends would meet, pass one end over another. Remember which end went over top - ie.: left over right or vice-versa - and continue to wrap the wire around the cane. Wrap the SAME end of the wire over the other, then twist them together. Wrap until you have a good amount to reach with your pliers. Grab the end of your wire with the tip of the pliers, pull (don't be shy... It can take it) and twist in the same direction you twisted before.

Remove additonal butcher string, and add the next two wires the same way. The only difference is, place two pointing one way and the other opposite from the previous two. That should make sense... Once you got the three wires on the cane, put the reed on your drying rack. Repeat all of these steps for the remaining reeds.

Just in case you wonder, this doesn't take all that much time. In fact, writing this (and maybe reading it, too) took longer than doing this procedure on three reeds. Maybe not... But it doesn't take that long. At this point, take a full 24-hours MINIMUM to let these babies dry and get used to their shape. In dry climates, like we have in Utah, they may be dry in an hour or two, but I suggest at LEAST one day to fully dry. Then, get ready for post number 2!! this is the colorful, time-consuming, precision part. Don't be afraid. It's not bad at all.

Now, Kevin and I took the next two hours and played Zelda (he beat the boss inside the Deku tree for me...), Super Mario Sluggers, and Smash Brothers Melee While waiting. Ultimately, he ended up leaving and I ate dinner, because the reeds needed more time to dry and I had things to do. :-)