[CAUT] Hammer flange rail split

[Daniel Gurnee]

Bob,

In lieu of a new rail, to prevent further splitting, after epoxying by  
Mr. Foote's method, I would place horizontal cleating screws to bridge  
the crack every 12 inches or so and if found necessary make tapping  
screws from the same size screws  by filing longitudinal grooves  (one  
or two) to prevent the pressures presented by squashing wood instead  
of cutting wood for renewal of old screw holes and new holes.

Dan G

On Jan 22, 2009, at 10:36 AM, Wolfley, Eric (wolfleel) wrote:

> Bob,
>
> We had a number of Baldwin SD-10s and SFs here ay CCM that had this  
> splitting hammer rail syndrome. They were all on the actions that  
> were Renner…for some reason they liked to split. The rails were made  
> out of beech as I remember. The problem only gets worse as you try  
> to make the stripped screws tighter. The tighter you make them, the  
> more the rail splits, etc, etc….Back in the day, you could order a  
> new rail from Baldwin but I don’t think that is the case anymore.  
> For the last rail I repaired here I made a jig and routed a ¼” slot  
> down the middle of the rail (after carefully making a screw-hole  
> pattern, of course) and inlaid a strip of rock maple (Delignit or  
> some similar material would work nicely also as long as the  
> laminations are not vertical ). This seemed to be a permanent   
> solution. Since the rock maple is pretty hard, don’t make the screw- 
> holes too small or things will start splitting again…too many holes  
> all in a line in the same direction as the grain will tend to cause  
> this.
>
> Hope this helps…
>
> Eric
>
> Eric Wolfley, RPT
> Director of Piano Services
> College-Conservatory of Music
> University of Cincinnati
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf  
> Of Bob Hull
> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:38 PM
> To: caut at ptg.org
> Subject: [CAUT] Hammer flange rail split
>
> I have a customer with a Baldwin D (1960's era) that has  a split in  
> the hammer flange rail.  I have already repaired several stripped  
> screw holes in this rail and now this is some further  
> deterioration.     I need to decide whether to try to repair this or  
> replace the whole rail.
>
> Just as I finished rebuilding the action this summer, the screw  
> holes got tired of all the work and several gave up the ghost.
>
> I don't do the tuning on this piano because of the distance but they  
> call me for repairs that the regular tuner doesn't do.  I haven't  
> seen the split yet  - they just told me what he saw.
>
> I believe other screw holes are on the verge of giving up their  
> grip.  So, even if I expoxied this split there could be more  
> problems later.
>
> Ideas?
>
> Would you make a new one from hard rock maple?
>
> Thanks for input.
>
> Bob Hull
>

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