Role of the Staple on a hammer

[David Love]

An older subject but I've been meaning to comment on this.  A few things
have been written about whether the staple is necessary to secure the glue
joint on a hammer.  While I do agree that the glue does most (if not all) of
the work holding the felt to the molding, I think the staple does play a
role in maintaining the overall tension in the felt.  Hammers without
staples must resort to reinforcers (which I have done on occasion) or some
application of heat to stabilize this region.  I think the use of heat to
create stability has a potential downside in that too much will simply
remove tension from the felt rather than reinforce this area in any
particular way.  For that reason, I'm not yet ready to abandon the use of
the staple.
     
David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net 
www.davidlovepianos.com