cracked beam

[Jon Page]

Another approach would be to apply water thin epoxy and let it soak in and
then
thicken the mix and fill the crack. Keep topping it off and leave a bead for
trimming
after it is set. Scrape it level and paint it black.

Of course this would work easier if the piano were turned upside-down  :-)

Anyway, that's what I'd do.

Jon Page



At 03:30 PM 4/10/99 -0500, you wrote:
>At 11:12 AM 4/10/99 -0600, you wrote:
>>Hi,
>>
>>Has anyone tried repairing a cracked beam on a small grand piano using
>>epoxy? the crack is about 2 feet long and 1/4 inch wide at it's worst. I
>>don't know how deep the crack is. It is the beam on the *straight* side.
>> 
>>Regards,
>>Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.M.T., R.P.T.
>
>
>
>Hi Don,
>Like Jim said, I can't see how it would hurt anything to patch it, or to
>leave it alone, for that matter. The crack isn't the result of extreme load,
>or racking or twisting. It's most likely internally generated by uneven
>shrinkage with humidity swings. The beam doesn't hold up the world, so the
>crack is really mostly cosmetic. Can you narrow the crack by clamping the
>sides of the beam? If so, it's deep enough that I would "fix" it. I think
>I'd trowel some Titebond up in there with a spatula to get it as deep in the
>crack as I could, then clamp the beam to close the crack as much as is
>reasonably possible. Then I'd screw or dowel in the side of the beam, nearly
>full depth, through the crack, every four inches or so, and put a wood shim
>in the surface to hide whatever gap remains and hold the glue in there until
>it dries. Seems like a lot of work for something that probably isn't that
>critical, but it should go pretty quickly and leave a decent looking result.
>No guarantees as to exactly what it will do next year, but it surely be more
>solid than it is now.
>
>Anyway, that's what I'd do.
> 
> Ron 
>