[CAUT] Steinway Technical

[Fred Sturm]

On 8/1/06 1:21 PM, "Thomas Seay" <t.seay at mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
> I learned something interesting from a class in Rochester by David
> Vanderlip. After polishing the pins with Flitz, he recommends
> cleaning the pin with naptha before applying McLube. This removes
> quite a bit of residue from the pin, which he says can become
> somewhat gummy if not removed. I'm not sure if the stuff that's
> removed is the "no residue" rust preventer or not, but there's sure a
> lot of it, whatever it is.
> 
> Try it and see how much gunk comes off the pins. You might be
> surprised. I sure was.
> 
> Tom
> 
    Sounds like a great idea. My final step with Flitz has been a polish
with a clean cloth. I use a wet cloth (wet with Flitz) to apply (apply to
all pins of a given rail, which gives the stuff time to start working), then
polish with the same wet cloth, then polish with the clean cloth. I prefer,
at this point, doing it by hand rather than with some jig in a drill or
whatever. I worry about wearing off the plating prematurely with the higher
speed, and find the hand work goes pretty fast (just concentrating on the
areas of the pins that actually contact the bushings). And I can feel any
nicks and roughness indicating a need to replace pins.
    But that final clean cloth polish does put some grey/black residue on
the cloth. And the cloth I use to apply McLube gets a bit grey, so it is
picking up a bit of residue also. A quick cleaning pass with a solvent like
naphtha wouldn't be a bad addition to the routine.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico