Removing bridge caps

[David Love]

Michael:

Thanks for the site.  Actually, my favorite tool for doing the final
leveling and squaring on the bridge root prior to recapping or on bridge
caps themselves has been a Lie-Nielsen scraping plane.  It's a substantial
tool ($$$), but beautifully made with a blade that adjusts to different
angles.  I find it easier to control than a plane.  You have to make other
arrangements at the top of the treble bridge due to the position of the
blade, but it works very well.  

David Love
davidlovepianos@earthlink.net


> [Original Message]
> From: Michael Spalding <spalding48@earthlink.net>
> To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Date: 7/20/2003 7:03:31 PM
> Subject: RE: Removing bridge caps
>
>
> David,
>
> My mentor/part-time-employer, Tim Dixon RPT, taught me his method for
> re-capping, and I have done a few for him in the last two years.
>
> One tool that can make planing down a bridge cap a little less of a pain
in
> the @$$, is a scrub plane.   It removes material much faster than a
> conventional plane.   Lee Valley has a nice one at 
>
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=46873&category=1,41182&ccurrency
> =2&SID=
>
> As you get close to the joint, use progressively more precise planes:  a
> smaller scrub plane (or adjust the big one for a shallower cut, then a 10"
> block plane, and finally a small low angle block plane.  With the low
angle
> plane adjusted for extremely thin shavings, and well sharpened, you can
get
> to the point where you can see the dark brown of the hide glue joint
> through a translucent layer of cap wood - just the faintest trace of wood
> grain on top of the glue.  At this point, either scrape or steam.  I
prefer
> just scraping, since the steam raises grain and flushes glue and crud down
> the bridge pin holes.