Having bought and cursed a variety of reamers over the years from cheap to very expensive I have recently found one that ticks ALL the right boxes and is really the Rolls Royce of reamers!
It reams out the back of a reed a) rapidly b) without blisters on my left index finger (I’m left handed) c) wet or dry d) right into throat - so throat is left a uniform size and remedied if I have made the throat a bit too small e) with a ring round the top of the reamer to set the depth I want it to go onto the bassoon crook. Oh and f) it's SHARP. Very sharp!
I usually make reeds in batches of ten and used to dread the reaming bit as ten in a row was cramp and blister inducing! This is now more like pealing some potatoes but more fun.
I have tried Pisoni, Rigotti, Reiger (and still use the diamond finishing reamer when out and about to keep in my bassoon case) and some lesser known and often ended up using a combination of them in the finishing process. All a bit painful really (literally!)
The supplier of the magic reamer?
Barrick Stees - Assistant Principal Bassoonist of the Cleveland Orchestra. He teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Akron. The reamer was designed by Ken Potsic
http://steesbassoon.com/
Look under "products"
In fact the whole site is something I have referred to again and again over the last two years as I have found his reed making advice very very sound and helpful.
