Agraffes

[A440A@aol.com]

 Mary writes:

> or should I clean and ream? If
>cleaning is recommended, what would be the best thing to use? Thanks in
>advance for input.

  The only working part of the agraffe is the bearing surface against the 
string.  
   I would clean them up and then ream them with a home-made reamer.  I use a 
heavy cut-off piece of bass core wire,  rolled between two files near the 
end, and then swedged until it is just wider than the agraffe holes.  This 
makes a fairly gentle burnish/grind tool that will do about three grands.  
    If you leave about 1/8" round at the end, it makes a good pilot as you 
guide the reamer into the agraffe and hit the trigger on the variable speed 
1/4" drill you have it chucked in.   Yes,  you can sling that thing if you 
are careless, but with about a 10 inches of wire, and a gentle touch,  a set 
of agraffes can be resized in about three minutes.  I have examined the 
results with a lens, and it  almost completely erases the previous string 
marks at the bearing points.  I've never had a notchy result yet. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote