Juice du Jour (Lubricants for Action Centers)

[Paul Birsching]

JIMRPT wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 3/13/98 1:38:01 AM, drose@dlcwest.com wrote:
> 
> <<If we are trying to get the flange to swell then *why* are we applying the
> water on the bushing? And if all you want to do is *press* the felt, why
> not just use dry heat!>>
> 
> Don;
>  Unless the person doing the treatment is a lot more dexterious and precise
>  than I am, it is unlikely that they could wet the "bushing" and not the wood
>  surrounding the bushing also.  In the event that one succeeded this feat of
>  ledgerdemain, :-), it would have been for nought, as moisture applied to the
>  "bushing" will readily wick into the wood, away from the bushing.  This
>  process is what causes the swelling I am hunting for when treating an action.
>   If all I were hunting for were "felt pressing" I suppose the application of
>  dry heat would work, but I don't know I've never tried it.
> 
>   The first time I had ever been told about treating an action in this manner
>  was from Aubrey Willis. I was working in My Uncle's shop trying to regulate an
>  upright and having difficulty because of sluggishness in the action.  Aubrey
>  had stopped by, to have lunch with my Aunt and Uncle, and saw me struggling
>  with this old beast.  He said he could make it work by using "a bit of the
>  hair of the dog" and told me to take the action out of the piano and set it on
>  a set of sawhorses.  Well I did, and he mixed this concoction of alcohol and
>  water, and started squirting all the action centers while I stood there
>  horrified that 'He' was playing a joke on me and my Uncle, and "how am I going
>  to explain this to Uncle Smitty"? thoughts flashing through my head.  But I
>  was 16 or 17 and he was.......well he was
> Aubrey :-).  There was a swing up aluminum door on the shop and Aubrey put
>  this action up on top of the door in the sunshine just as My Uncle drove in
>  the driveway.  During lunch he told of the troubles I was having regulating
>  that  action and Uncle Smitty said "well we'll treat it after lunch" and
>  Aubrey said that "Jim had already done it" !  See, there he was blaming
>  ruining that action on me!!!
>   Well to shorten the story I took down the action after lunch, stuck it in
>  the piano, and it worked just fine. (after much screw tightening) Thank you
>  Aubrey !
> 
> <<"The usual denaturing agent in alcohol is oil. I am not sure about the
> rubbing alcohol">>
> 
>   Don I think the opposite is true re:
> de-na-tured alcohol (de-na-chúrd) n.
> Ethyl alcohol to which a poisonous substance, such as acetone or methanol, has
>  been added to make it unfit for consumption.
> 
>   And that Rubbing alcohol has the oil, of some description,  added to it
>  but............. I have been far off target before. :-)
> JIm Bryant (FL)
	I recently dried an action that resided near a Lake Michigan.  The
results were less than stellar, as the moisture soon returned.  More
recently, I was introduced to water and alcohol on an 1900's Steinway
upright action that had 6 or 8 grams of friction in the jack.  A good
soaking and the next day the friction had dropped to one gram with no
loss of integrity of fit.  Whatever is really happening, I know which
solution works.