Faster, and "irons the felt" - makes it have a firmer surface that is more stable and develops less friction. I put the keys in a key clamp, run a steam source (travel iron) over the bushings enough to swell them (not enough to make them pull loose - keep the steam source moving and keep watching the bushings), then follow immediately with heated caul to re-set the felt. Once rapidly (half second per bushing) to kind of set things in place (reverse any glue coming loose) going through the whole set, and again more slowly (one second per) to iron and dry (while I went through the whole set, the water from the steam had some time to evaporate). Generally this means I am putting the keys back on the frame same day. I'm in a generally dry climate, so your results might vary (might need a third insertion to dry thoroughly). I find this more efficient than installing and then removing a whole set of cauls. And it means I don't need to have two full sets of cauls to cover balance and front rails. I am not sure whether the bushings are sufficiently ironed if they are wet, cauls inserted, left overnight to dry. Haven't done that yet. I'll try it and see what I think. I suspect I would end up ironing anyway, just as I always iron when I install new bushings. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu On Nov 19, 2008, at 8:48 AM, David Skolnik wrote: > At 10:31 AM 11/19/2008, you wrote: > I'll be trying it out to see whether it out-performs >> "homebrew." Or steaming and heated cauls for key bushings. >> Regards, >> Fred Sturm > > Remind me...why heated cauls? What would be the difference if > Spurlock cauls were used? > > David Skolnik > > >
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