This is why I love the Abel Naturals from Wally! They refrain from
washing them so much that the lanolin disappears. It really makes for a
wonderful hammer with lots of give, yet the power we need. The lanolin is
why they're not bright white. do we really need bright white hammers? for
old hammers, yeah, I tried the Downey thing, but it tends to do more than
what I want. I have also tried the acetone on existing hammers, and found
some good results. When I use the Downey, I dilute it quite a bit with
alcohol and/or lacquer thinnner and have had fairly decent to good
results. On the other hand, sometimes, nasty old asian hammers just don't
respond well. They're just too hard.
Anyone tried the VS-Pro-felt in the grooves? I'm considering this on some
uprights that nobody really cares about in the practice rooms...Isn't that
why we call them "practice rooms"?? lol For fun, I tried some VS on some
smashed in knuckles on this M I'm starting, but it really didn't do
anything. I'm wondering what this stuff can REALLY do. I've tried it on
whip cushions, key bushings, but have not really been happy with the
results. You?
Paul
From:
Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu>
To:
caut at ptg.org
Date:
08/05/2010 02:32 PM
Subject:
Re: [CAUT] lanolin in hammers
On Jul 31, 2010, at 1:25 PM, Fred Sturm wrote:
> So far I have tried alcohol (iso and denatured) and acetone, which
> don't dissolve it; and lacquer thinner and VMP Naphtha, which do,
> though with a good bit of stirring. Applying this to shoulders of a
> couple "scrap" old hammers I have around, with similar resistance to
> needle penetration, is at least somewhat promising.
I did an experiment with lanolin this week. Monday I
tried a solution
of a good bit of lanolin dissolved in lacquer thinner on the shoulders
of the original hammers in a 1963 Steinway, hammers I had considered
"unvoiceable" because the needles wouldn't penetrate, due to too much
friction. While the solution was wet, needle penetration was quite a
bit better. A bit squeaky at the bottom (that last couple mm of
penetration) and with a good bit of resistance to pulling out, but
much better than dry. So I soaked all the shoulders of all the
hammers. Today, I tried some sample hammers, and it was like voicing a
normal hammer. Needles went in and pulled out with relative ease. The
lanolin solution had no obvious effect on the tone quality by itself -
or none that I particularly noticed. If there was a change, it was an
improvement (it didn't seem to need voicing as badly as I thought it
did Monday, but my ears and perception can easily change that much
from day to day).
So I think I may have hit on a winner. I find lanolin
much preferable
to fabric softener, as it is a natural product that was originally in
the wool before it was processed. I have run across lots of hammer
sets with this same problem - they aren't all that densely pressed,
but getting the needles in is just too much of a struggle, and it
seems to tear the fibers more than spread them if I force the issue.
Pull out and there is a nice hole the size of the needle, and the tone
is still constipated. With the lanolin, once the needle is pulled out,
there is little evidence it was ever in the felt: the felt fibers move
back.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
http://www.createculture.org/profile/FredSturm
http://www.youtube.com/fredsturm
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/FredSturm
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