I just juiced this set I'm working on and they now are fileable...what comes off is more powdery but no hunks... David I. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Page" <jonpage@mediaone.net> To: <caut@ptg.org> Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 5:17 PM Subject: Re: filing the Steinway hammers (was Kissin) > At 09:23 AM 01/10/2001 -0500, you wrote: > > jon writes: > > > ><<The older hammers filed with ease, was that due to shellac in the hammer or > >lacquer or a better hammer making process. I bet the later.>> > > > >I generally autopsy hammers before I throw them away, and have cut open a lot > >of older Steinway hammers. I don't see evidence of hardener in there before > >the 1950's. I know, they say that the hammers have always had a hardener > >put in them, but I don't believe that. A 1930 bass hammer, when cut open > >and the felt worked back and forth until it frays, doesn't seem to have > >anything in there at all, and soaking the pieces with alcohol doesn't seem to > >change anything, which it would do if there was shellac imbedded in the felt. > > > > I think the new hammers are made from felt that is cut poorly, allowing > > the > >felting layers to be so non-continuous that when taken out of the cauls, any > >attempt to shape them will, like as not, follow a "grain" line directly into > >the hammer instead of following the contour around the edges. I remember the > >Yamaha hammers of the the late '70's vintage doing much the same thing, even > >though they were harder to begin with. Anybody else got ideas? > > With my generally limited knowledge of the hammer making process, could it > be that > the felt is not 'shaken' into the horizontal mass as years ago and rely > more on presses? > Old hammers have a nice 'peel' and new ones don't, what has changed? > > The main reason I use hardener before filing is poor layering and felt > pulling out. > One tech here put it, "I think they're made out of old diapers". > > Regards, > > Jon Page, piano technician > Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. > mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >
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