hammermaking materials

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "gordon stelter" <lclgcnp@yahoo.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: September 22, 2002 1:39 PM
Subject: Re: Voicing


> Yes. I know this sounds odd. But Dave Stanwood's wife,
> a felter, told me this and I therefore don't doubt it.
> Maybe they had a lot of Teflon(TM) lying around, and
> were looking for new uses. After all, this is how
> nitrocellulose lacquer came into being: as a means of
> disposing with WWI surplus guncotten. I think Steinway
> was also the first to use this lacquer for piano
> cases.
>      I just wonder at the wisdom of experimenting with
> Teflon for this, as Teflon sticks to almost nothing,
> whereas any material used for felt substitution in
> hammers would need to stick rather well to itself, and
> a hammermolding.( If there was one. )
>      Gordon Stelter



I can think of a number of materials and fibers it would be interesting to
experiment with, but for hammermaking Teflon would surely be close to the
bottom of the list. It readily cold-flows, it's not at all resistant to
impact stress, it's not at all resilient, it's not--well, you get the idea.
In fact, I can't think of any particular characteristic Teflon has that
would make it suitable or desirable for hammer.

Personally, I would try working with one of the various types of
polyurethane. Having myself made some interesting sounding hammers out of
this material I wonder if this is not more like what they were up to. That,
or something like one of the wool/Kevlar blends.

Del