The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Could this also be done with standard diameter black 2 minute wax cylinders. I have a couple Edison 2 minutes that don't fit all the way on the mandrel. edisonplayer.

Gary (edisonplayer),
A standard size cylinder reamer for Blue Amberol cylinders should work fine on wax cylinders, I would guess, provided you’re very careful in handling the cylinder while reaming it.

Doug

I was thinking a little more about wax cylinders being reamed, something that I've never had to do thankfully.
I remember reading somewhere amongst Edison home recording literature, it stated that people who didn't have a record shaver could use gasoline (or turpentine as well maybe) to remove a previous recording and produce a suitable surface for a new recording.
I had to try it and found gasoline on a rag did indeed slowly remove the recording from a moldy GM cylinder.

So I've been wondering, could gasoline somehow be used, perhaps on a cloth covered mandrel or a strip of wood with one surface formed to follow the internal curve, as an alternative to sandpaper for reaming the ribs?

Never having done any sort of wax reaming of any kind, I have no idea how much material would generally be removed to make it fit.
Using gasoline would slow the reaming process and should give more control over how much you remove, and might be safer because the wax is basically being dissolved instead of being plowed and scratched away from the surface.
Of course you'd also need to be careful not to let gasoline come in contact with the outer surface.

It was just a thought anyway that's possibly worth exploring.
Whatever method is used, I think blizz has the right idea in that a 5" reamer needs to be anchored down so you've got two hands for far better control of the cylinder.