Damper felt removal

[John Delacour]

At 1:50 pm -0400 5/5/02, HazenBannister@cs.com wrote:

|  What is everyone's favorite damper felt removal process.

I fill a tall pan (taller than a grand damper wire) with very hot water containing a small amount of detergent and hold the dampers four or five at a time with the felt just touching the water.  Once the water has risen through the felt I replace the dampers on the rack (grand) or board (upright) and leave them.  Depending on the strength and type of glue used, it will take between ten minutes and ten hours for the felt and cloth to come off clean.  The thin residue of glue can be scraped off easily with a blade while it's still soft.

Quite often the damper felt is attached with a weaker glue than the under-cloth, so leave well alone until both glues are well softened, otherwise the bare under-cloth will dry out too quickly.

JD