Suggestions on How To Get Into RefacingBy Keith W. Bradbury 3/24/14

1. Join the Yahoo Mouthpiece Work group. There is a lot of content saved in the files and links sections. The older conversation posts also deal a lot with the basics of getting started. They can also be downloaded from the Files Grouped Posts area.

2. Watch refacing videos on YouTube. I have posted over 45 videos on my MojoBari channel dealing with refacing and other aspects of mouthpiece work. Many are multipartreal time videos so you get a real look at the time and effort involved as well as the tools and strategies that work.

3. Start by measuring, measuring, and more measuring. You need to be able to get fairly repeatable facing curve measurements before you can use those readings to guide your work. Hold a straight edge against the table to see if it is flat, wavy, concave or convex. If it is convex, note how this can affect your readings depending on how you hold the glass gauge against the table. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLXNVzWbqiw Tools needed: glass gauge and a feeler gauge set including larger sizes. A dial tip opening gauge, and/or digital calipers are helpful.

4. If you have spreadsheet skills, graph your facing curve readings to visualize them. Compare them to mathematical radial and elliptical curves. There are public spreadsheetson the Yahoo group site. But these are no substitute for your own math and spreadsheet chops. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f4T3jIv0Mw

5. If you do not have spreadsheet skills, record your readings on paper in a notebook. Note which mouthpiece facings play the best for you. Use the good ones as facing targets for the bad ones.

6. Learn to flatten a table. This can be maddening. I have seen high end expensive mouthpieces that have low table heels which indicate the maker still needs to learn how to do this. Having a super flat work surface does nothing if you have bad technique. Most refacers use loose sheets of sandpaper on (I think) a piece of glass. Some just use a table top and some a precision ground granite slab. Here is the system I use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYhbpUIyZG0 I have several videos where I show how to flatten a tables.

7. Files. You will only need a lot of files if you get into baffle and chamber reshaping. I started with several Asian made files sets from Micro-Mark. I still use some of the riffler files from these sets. But my go-to files for shaping rails, tables and baffles near the tip are all Valtitan needle files. You can pretty much everything you need to do using just a half round file with a 0 cut. So I recommend getting one of them in Valtitan. But you can start out with cheapo files and decide after you wear your first one out.

8. Sandpapers. Get the wet/dry silicone carbide types sold in automotive supply stores, etc. I mostly use 220, 320, 400, 600. But some of my 400 feels the same as the 320 to me.

Some like to go as fine as 800 and 1000-1500. You can use them for facing adjustments and also cut small pieces for body and baffle finishing. Small pieces can be wrapped around files and shaped sticks to finish the mouthpiece interior.

9. My videos show the sequence of steps I use. There are also documents on the Yahoo site in the Files - Methods area on reworking steps. The recap by Dan Torosian is good. So is all my stuff ;-).

10. Additional tools are luxuries in my opinion. Just add what you think you need as you go along. Use what works for you and store away the ones that are not that helpful.