[CAUT] Hammer alignment

[David Ilvedson]

Hey Jim, 

How long does it take to heat the glue enough to remove a hammer with your set up?   

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, California



----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "James Ellis" <claviers at nxs.net>
To: caut at ptg.org
Received: 3/30/2006 9:37:57 AM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Hammer alignment


>I have been following this discussion about hammer alignment, and the
>latest I read is between Don Mannino and Wim Blees.  Now, I'll comment.

>Traditional "burning" the shanks works if the misalignment is very slight.
>But if it's more than that, I don't like to do it.  I hate to see shanks
>that have actually been burned and scorched, but I do find them occasionally.

>I prefer to heat the glue joint and turn the hammer.  I have used that
>technique for years, and in most cases it works, and it's permanent.  It's
>a lot more trouble than just "burning" the shanks.  I always hold the shank
>with pilers when I turn the hammer.  Wim, I do NOT use a heat gun.  It's
>just too hard to control, and if one holds it far enough away so that it
>does not scorch the wood and burn the hammer, it heats entirely too much
>other stuff in addition to the glue joint.  I made a little copper clip
>that goes on the end of a low-wattage soldering pencil, and it just clips
>over the wood at the glue joint, and gets the glue just hot enough to
>soften it.

>Don, the hammer does turn on the shank.  It will rotate, and for that
>matter, it will come off if you keep turning and pulling on it.  The
>technique works for animal glue, and for some synthetics.  But for other
>synthetics, it won't work at all.  There are some, I'm not sure which ones,
>that will scorch and burn before they soften.  Obviously, this technique
>won't work for those glues.  It's lots more trouble than just "burning" the
>shanks, but I like the results, and I have done it that way for years.

>Jim Ellis