Bending rims... sideline from Re: Plate Bushings

[Brian Trout]

Hi Greg,

Sort of, and sort of not.  I've been told that Steinway uses a process where
they heat the wood and use hot glue.  Heating the wood will extend the setup
time of the glue long enough to allow them to get the mass of wood and glue
into the rim press and all clamped down while the glue is still workable.
At least that's the way I was told.  It may be changing now, with the advent
of more modern glues, I don't know.

But I don't believe that they would pre-stress the layers of wood in such a
way as to give them their approximate shape after glueup.  Probably
impractical and unnecessary in a setup with those huge rim presses.

I hope I didn't add too much confusion to the subject.  It was more or less
some random thoughts that came to mind I thought I'd throw out for whatever
they may have been worth.

Brian Trout
Quarryville, PA
btrout@desupernet.net