"Tuning Tools" Tip of the Week 3/2/13
Hello Harp Techs!
A couple of years ago Dick Sjoberg turned me on to ceramic files (as seen in Harp Tech Study #7, where I demonstrated the 1,000 grit red stone). What an improvement it has made in my tuning work, as it will with your time on the bench. Since then I ordered two additional "Superstone" files from Professional Polishing Tools .
Ceramic stones (files) are the least evasive tool to use when tuning reeds (vs. jewelers files, rotary bits, sanding sticks, scrapers, etc.). So gentle, some will argue that Ceramic Stones will mitigate premature failing of a tuned reed. With Ceramic Stones, there is no gouging or rough handling our precious little reeds ;o)
Ceramic files are shaped like swizzle sticks, and the grit rating is identified by a color coded system:
* Light Brown (#Superstone .5mm x 6mm x 100mm) 150grit and is used to remove significant amount of reed material
* Blue (#Superstone .5mm x 6mm x 100mm) 400grit and is used to remove less reed material
* Red (#Superstone .5mm x 6mm x 100mm) 1,000grit and is used to remove the least amount of reed material. This is especially useful when adopting the fine tuning "to the edge" strategy.
Your Harpsmith
Kinya
Kinya,
In your list you give a size of .5mm x 6mm x 100mm. Is there a reason for selecting the .5mm thickness vs 1mm. The price is the same for both thicknesses of Superstone on the Gesswein.com Canada site. However, prices increase by width. A 4mm width would still be wider than a reed. How about 4mm vs 6mm.
On the Gesswein site their colors for grit numbers are different, e.g. 1000 grit is white and 1200 grit is red. Using their codes I'm thinking of getting 800 and 1200 grit.
Larry