If you see boards cracking again right next to the shim, my guess is that either it was not glued in properly, board was not dried properly, or board was not glued back to the ribs at the crack properly. Also, I can get real good color matching with wood. I am not hung up on spruce. I just shimmed a board with some cedar heartwood because the board was a dark brown color. You really can't even see the shims. No staining, no nuttin'! To each their own, and I suspect properly done, epoxy is just fine. I do love epoxy. I use it like duct tape. Except for shimming! Terry Farrell Piano Tuning & Service Tampa, Florida mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Brekne" <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Friday, January 05, 2001 3:09 AM Subject: Re: Was it something I said? > > > Farrell wrote: > > > > > However, IMHO, shimming works great if the board is dried appropriately, and > > it looks so much better, especially on a wide crack! :-) > > Actually, I never really could understand this idea that the wood shim looks > better then the epoxy fill. They certainly look different. But "better" > "worse" ??? nahhhh... thats a matter of taste to begin with. Epoxy actually can > look kinda neat if you mix with fine sawdust of wood... you can get these dark > fill lines... or very light ones... or even redish coloured ones if you like. > > As far as how long either method holds.... I have heard at least a 100 times > from hundred different woodworkers how shimming will hold up just as well, only > to find that in all 100 instances... sooner or later... a new crack shows up > adjacent to one side of the shim. ...grin..ok so I am overdriving the point a > bit... but you get my meaning. In anycase I have never seen this same thing > happen to an epoxied crack. > > Fact is only reason I can think of for useing shims is if you simply want wood > in the crack.... fix finished period no questions... otherwise epoxy wins hands > down ... > > -- > Richard Brekne > RPT, N.P.T.F. > Bergen, Norway > mailto:Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no > > >
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