My son, a mere junior high school level bassoonist, was up to fewer than one in eight being unusable when he last played at the start of high school. I know that I could use them, however good of a gauge of that it might be.
His teacher, our next door neighbor at the time, claims to never have made a reed not worth her trouble to finish. I played a few of hers, and they were uniform and tight, the product of a very organized and meticulous mind.
One thing that I regret was never having taken the time to photograph him hard at work at the reed-making board. Head down trimming an edge, under the over-bright light fixture we installed at his request, he would work at his reeds longer than his homework.
It all ended because of 1) the school requirement that all band members be a part of the marching band, 2) the concurrent requirement of attending extra practices focused on marching band (and having little to do with either music or drill and ceremony) and 3) playing high level hockey (he's still a AA rated player, and even plays adult checking hockey up in New Jersey). So much for bassoon playing...
Me? Well, I have tried reed making in the past (converting Eb clarinet reeds to fit my single reed staple mouthpiece for the oboe, and a couple of attempts to make bass clarinet reeds). But, I quickly found out why the little oboe mouthpiece came with an envelope full of reeds - I, like many others, do not have the patience to do it right.