Falconwood Pinblock Problems

[stanwood]

Mark writes about falconwood:

> I have one S&S "A" with one of these blocks in it - a performance piano, too,
>and I have always hated and despised it. Of course it has something to do with
>the size of the bit used to drill the holes, but I'll stick with Delignit.

When I was rebuilding in my early years I always used Falconwood with great
success,
never a problem in the first year in service or years later.  I remember
that it was important to use tuning pins that really were 0.282"  (not 0.282
or 0.283) and a 0.272" high spiral air cooled bit running at the right speed
and at the right feed to prevent the high pitched squel that indicates
burning of the wood.

Since using falconwood I've switched to rock maple blocks because it's
harder to get tuning pins of consistant diameter these days (I got tired of
miking pins) and the are a now a number of sources for high quality maple
blocks.  The maple blocks require a smaller diameter hole and are therefor
more forgiving of variations in tuning pin diameters.

I've heard far more stories of problems with delignit than I have of falconwood.

David Stanwood