Action Center Wood Repairs

[Alan Barnard]

Okay, good, makes sense to me.

I think one of the things coloring my thoughts was the fact that I am sometimes up to 2 1/2 hours between customer and shop (more often 1/2 to 1 hour). 

I use a lot of JB Weld 5-minute stuff, wonderfully handy for many things, but it would be hard to use in the application you show--too gooey and runny.

Excuse me, now, my horse needs feeding and I'm rearranging the saddlebags so my tilter will fit in better.

Alan Barnard
Salem, Missouri


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Farrell 
To: Pianotech List
Sent: 04/25/2006 7:11:49 AM 
Subject: Re: Action Center Wood Repairs


Thanks.

I didn't understand the last comment: "... although not [a fix] to do in a customer's home."

It takes a pretty special set of circumstances for me to mix epoxy in a customer's home. I just don't do it, unless there is no other reasonable option. Carpet + epoxy = disaster! And, the epoxy takes a couple hours to harden, but even then doesn't get full strength until after an overnight cure. I also had to drill the bushing holes out on the drill press. The bushing felt needs to dry for a while - I like to just let it dry overnight. (I actually bushed the holes a couple hours after I applied the epoxy.) So there are several reasons why this particular repair is best done in the shop.

Now I know one could use JB Weld or some other fast-setting putty-like epoxy. It may work just fine. I do know that sometimes it can be difficult to get a good bond when applying that type of epoxy to small and/or hard-to-reach places. And in this case, the repair area is a high stress area. I just sleep much better when I use the two-step epoxy bonding process. I've seen joints fail when using only thick epoxy. One can bond a cleat to a boat deck with the two-step method with no other mechanical attachements and tie the anchor line to it and leave it out in a hurricane - I guarantee that if anything fails, it will be the line, the anchor, or the deck will rip away, but the cleat-to-deck joint won't fail!

"....and all this without so many of our modern tools and materials."

Exactly! No epoxy, only hide glue. Hide glue cleans up with water and dries in very short time. I use hide glue. I love hide glue. In some applications however, epoxy has distinct advantages.

Besided, if that were not the case, Epoxy Man would be lonely - just like the Maytag repair man!   ;-)

Terry Farrell
----- Original Message ----- 

Nice work, Terry.

I didn't understand the last comment: "... although not [a fix] to do in a customer's home."

Why do you feel that way? I think sometimes we are called upon to do this sort of thing as a kind of high art form. I brings to mind the 19th and early 20th century tuners who packed their whole "shop" in a couple of saddle bags and made big circuits throughout rural America. They must, of necessity, have become very clever at repairing, remanufacturing, replicating, and adapting parts -- and all this without so many of our modern tools and materials.

Alan Barnard
Salem, Missouri
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