<G> An hour after a bath there is enough lanolin behind the ear to use as a lube. This is what my flute players to use to lube their flute joints. Joe Goss RPT Mother Goose Tools imatunr at srvinet.com www.mothergoosetools.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Ross" <jrpiano at win.eastlink.ca> To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org> Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 3:24 PM Subject: Re: [CAUT] center pinning changes > Coming from Scotland, I remember the Saturday night bath. :-) > I now shower every day, a habit from my time in the Navy. > So my repinning, now involves, Protek, or Goose Juice. > John M. Ross > Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada > jrpiano at win.eastlink.ca > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Delacour" <JD at Pianomaker.co.uk> > To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org> > Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 4:40 PM > Subject: Re: [CAUT] center pinning changes > > > > At 12:39 -0400 8/9/07, Ted Sambell wrote: > > > >>...one continually runs into pianos one hundred years old in which > >>the centers are still perfect. They used no lubricants, but > >>evidently took the time to do things properly. > > > > Quite so -- or almost. I have just been recentring the hammers of a > > Kirkman upright from about 1870 which has had by no means a charmed > > life and which most people would have taken to the dump. The pins > > were original at 1.18 mm and not one of them was either loose or > > unacceptably stiff. I recentred throughout with 1.20 mm German > > silver centre wire. Today I have inspected the centres of an 1895 > > piano with an Isermann action. Since this piano has had very light > > use and is virtually as good as new, I shall probably not even > > re-centre but use Protek, since most of the centres here are also > > perfect. It is a real pleasure to work on old actions from the great > > makers. > > > >>Renner do wonderful work, so it is mystifying why they should have > >>this problem. > > > > I also have recently acquired a 1905 Lipp with a Renner action > > (rather unusually, since at the time they generally used Keller. I > > very rarely find a Renner action in an old piano and there is nothing > > very special about it, and certainly not the centres. If they did > > such wonderful work then, it's surprising so few makers recognised > > it! I don't regard their work now as wonderful either. The really > > great German and French action makers are long gone, together with > > dozens of mediocre makers. > > > >>I just use a little teflon powder on my fingers when handling > >>centerpins. In the old days we were taught to run the pins through > >>our hair before inserting them. Of course, back then people washed > >>their hair once a week. so it was a good source of lanolin. I think > >>graphite is unnecessary, and messy stuff anyway. > > > > I have better things to do than wash my hair every day and never do > > centring jobs until about 3 or 4 days after washing it, since this is > > the very best way to get just the right amount of lubrication on the > > pin and ease the passage of the pin through the wood, without which > > either it will creak and seize or require so much pressure as to risk > > bending the pin, and it is remarkable how many bent pins one > > discovers when decentring original work. If a centring job simply > > must be done when my hair is newly washed, then I wipe the pins on a > > rag steeped in tallow. > > > > JD > > > > > > > > > >
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