shank strike weights

[Jon Page]

Matching Shank Strike Weight to Hammer Weight reduces the amount
of weight alteration on a hung set.

Let's say you have two adjacent hammers weighing 8 and 8.5 grams.
Your shanks have differing weights also and can vary as low a 1.4g
and up to 2.2g.

So without forethought, if you happen to place a 2g shank with the 8.5 hammer
and a 1.5 shank with the 8g hammer; you come out with 10.5 and 9.5 SW's
respectively. Had you placed the 1.5 shank on the 8.5 and the 2g 
shank on the 8g
hammer; you come out with two 10 g SW's.

I've been doing this for ten years now. I weigh a set of shanks and 
separate them into
piles to the tenth of a gram.  I have to only alter about 12 on a set 
once they are hung.

I take measuring the shanks a step further...
I measure the height of the knuckle with a spring loaded thickness 
gage. The shanks are
uniform but the degree to which the knuckle has been pressed varies. 
So each pile is
broken down into low, medium and high; or average height, +.005 
(high), -.005 (low)
and set aside any beyond that. That leaves me with a window of .010.

So during the process of shank selection, I'll group similar knuckle 
heights together.
It makes a noticeable difference which is visible in a more even 
LetOff button placement.
-- 

Regards,

Jon Page