Brass Rail Repairs

[John Ross]

Hi List,
I wonder what would happen, if we put the rail in an electric oven, and went
to the self clean cycle?
Regards,
John M. Ross
----- Original Message -----
From: <BSimon1234@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 1999 8:14 AM
Subject: Re: Brass Rail Repairs


> Mr. Cole:
>
> I thought the information you provided about annealing brass was just
great,
> and I am sure that sometime in the future I will follow your instructions
and
> do it in some project.  Thanks for the experimentation and the write-up.
>
> I was wondering, however, why the piano companies did not anneal the
original
> rails. As you have shown, they easily could have, and I cannot imagine
that
> they did not know about it.  Do you think that over time continuous impact
> stresses from playing might bend the annealed tabs out of line? You are
> gaining a ductility and losing hardness. Do you forsee any downside risk?
>
> I have not yet duplicated a rail on my mill, but I always thought that
should
> I need to do so I would try to use copper, hoping that it would be
stronger,
> and get away from the brass annealing question. It would be easier to work
> than steel, but still be a step up in longevity from the brass, which I am
> sure was used because of cost and ease of cutting.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Bill Simon
> Phoenix
> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
> <<This is a follow-up to the 1902 Kimball upright brass rail repair job. A
> few days back, Bill Schlipf had ridden up on his white horse and laid a
> perfect set of same-vintage, double-rail beauties on my doorstep. It was
> amazing to see not a sign of breakage anywhere. Lurking in the back of
> my mind, though, was the thought that they probably would start breaking
> tongues eventually and that needed to be addressed.
>
> I had already ordered new butt and damper plates. While I was awaiting
> the shipment from Bill, I spoke with several people on the subject of
> annealing brass, the upshot of which is that you can easily do it
> yourself by holding each plate over the flame of a gas stove until it
> starts to glow red a little bit, progressively moving from one end to
> the other until the entire strip has had a chance to incandesce, however
> briefly. I worked in dim light to be sure that I could see the glow.
>
> Before I annealed the "new" pieces, I experimented on one of the broken
> ones. I treated only half of it and left the rest untreated as a
> control. I also wanted to see if there was any danger of melting since I
> heard that annealing and melting temps are not that far away.
>
> On the softened part, I could bend a tongue up at a 45 degree angle,
> down to a 45 degree angle, then back to horizontal without any sign of
> breakage. I did this on several tongues and saw vicegrip marks but no
> sign of breakage. I then tried the same test on the unannealed part. The
> tongues would start to break on the upward bend and would completely
> break off at the downward bend. Holding the brass over the flame for a
> long time did not cause the part to melt. However, if your stove
> temperature is hotter or you are using some kind of a torch, it would be
> wise to experiment on the old part first.
>
> I just reassembled the action today. Now I have some confidence that
> this family heirloom will live a long life.
>
> This was an unusual situation, to be sure, but I thought the discoveries
> I made about annealing might be of general interest.
>
> Tom
>
> --
> Thomas A. Cole, RPT
> Santa Cruz, CA
> mailto:tcole@cruzio.com
>
> >>
>
>