A breakthrough in reed knife control
Whether you’re making oboe reeds or adjusting oboe reeds, the Westwind reed knife and sharpening system improves your control and makes it easier to define your own personal version of the perfect reed.
Why buy a Westwind Reed Knife?
Learning to control a reed knife is no small feat. Experienced reed makers will tell you that it took them years to master their traditional reed knives. Teachers will tell you horror stories about trying to salvage students’ reeds riddled with lumps, bumps and nicks; or whose spines were chronically off center. We like to think they were sympathetic as well, when their students thinned that last corner just a hair, only to take off the entire corner completely.
At Westwind, we believe that learning to control a reed knife shouldn’t be so hard. The Westwind Reed Knife is built with novices in mind, but experts will love it too. Its unique tapered blade makes short work of long scrapes at the back of the reed while allowing delicate and refined control at the tip. The optional sharpening system takes the mystery out of sharpening a knife, so there’s no reason to tolerate a dull blade again. The handle is adjustable too, making it easier than ever put the spine in the center of the reed. After all, just because you’re pursuing the perfect reed doesn’t mean it has to take forever to get there!
Back to top
Control delicate scrapes more easily
The Westwind Reed Knife is a scraping tool by design. Its tapered blade is uniquely designed to improve your success in making oboe reeds. The tapered configuration works naturally with the forces of your hand, letting you scrape from back to front with minimal pressure. And because the tip of the blade makes a smaller arc and pivots closer to your hand than traditional reed knives, you’ll find that it increases your control dramatically.
Back to top
Never tolerate a dull knife again
For some people—and especially novices—knife sharpening is a matter of considerable difficulty. A momentary error in holding a precise angle while sharpening a blade can destroy a good edge. That means students often choose to work with a dull blade rather than risking uncertain results. To solve this problem, we’re once again applying industry best practices by offering an optional Westwind Sharpening System. This specialized fixture holds the blade firmly in place at the correct angle with respect to the sharpening stone. That means you can sharpen and re-sharpen your Westwind Reed Knife as many times as you like without fear of damage.
And just in case you're wondering...the Westwind Reed Knife combines the best features of both hollow ground and beveled knife styles. The pocket in the front face of the blade serves the same function as a hollow grind, minimizing the blade's contact with the sharpening stone. The back face, by contrast, is a shallow bevel. The skilled knife sharpener will have no difficulty sharpening the Westwind Reed Knife by hand, and the novice can attain a perfect edge every time by using the optional sharpening fixture.
Back to top
Adjust your handle for ergonomic comfort
The handle on the Westwind reed knife can be placed in either a straight or angled configuration. The straight configuration is the traditional approach, but you may just prefer the angled configuration instead. Especially for students who are new to making oboe reeds, the angled configuration is not only comfortable in the hand, but it makes it easier to reach to the “far” side of the reed too (the side opposite your hand). That means you’ll have less trouble putting the spine down the center.
Back to top
|
