needle for bolstering knuckles??

[Jon Page]

At 09:33 PM 7/16/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>List,
>
>I recently discovered that by bolstering the knuckles on a well-worn grand 
>action, I can avoid all that capstain turning and let-off rail raising 
>that I hate to do!  I've been using a modified darning needle to pull a 
>2mm wide strip of bushing cloth through the knuckles.  The foldover at the 
>eye is very difficult to pull through, and it stretches the buckskin more 
>than I'd like.  In Chicago, one of the instructors (if I could remember 
>who, I would contact him individually) described a flat needle with some 
>kind of clip to grip the end of the action cloth, that he uses for knuckle 
>bolstering.  He called it a glovers needle, and said the supply houses 
>carry them.  Well, the supply house glovers needles are triangular 
>cross-section voicing needles, aren't they?  So does anyone know what this 
>flat needle is really called, and where I can get one?
>
>thanks,
>
>Mike Spalding, RPT

If you insist on using bushing cloth, cut one end into a point and harden 
it with epoxy or CA glue.
But a better material to bolster is rug yarn because it tapers out better 
under the buckskin;
cloth just makes an abrupt end. Rug yarn is also easier to thread through 
the needle than cloth
and does not stretch out the buckskin as much.


Regards,

Jon Page,   piano technician
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass.
mailto:jonpage@attbi.com
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