Shoe pegs or epoxy to fill bridge holes

[David Love]

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I don't do the type of production work that you do, but I've used toothpicks and Titebond (or Bolduc) glue.  No pounding, just dip and clip.  When dry, I cut them off with a sharp chisel.  Never had any problem drilling through the cap into anything that clogged or felt like empty space.  

David Love
davidlovepianos@earthlink.net


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To: pianotech@ptg.org
Sent: 2/7/2004 7:36:07 PM 
Subject: Shoe pegs or epoxy to fill bridge holes


   List
    For years we have used shoe pegs to fill the remaining portion of the bridge pin holes after the caps are taken off in preparation for new caps. I had a good system using shoe pegs and the Bolduc wood glue to secure them. The glue doesn't gum up in  the bit as does most other glues I've tried & with this simple system I can usually drill a set of bridges painlessly in about an hour or so.

    The problem is that no one in the shop enjoys pounding square pegs in round hole except my wife Trix & she's often to busy stringing etc.......  Also the pegs are getting hard to find in quantity. Any way I recently tried the West systems epoxy treatment squeezing it into the holes. Relatively quick & painless except for the guk/sticky factor.  Ater this I immediately glue on the caps also with epoxy.
  After it cured for about 5 days I drilled for the new pin holes but the residual epoxy seems to powder up or alternately stick to the bit. I find this characteristic unacceptable.  Then every other hole or so I must run the bit thru some thin scrap spruce to clean the bit the drill again & over & over etc. Tedious useless activity.
  I'd be interested in someone else's technique who has more experience with epoxy in this application. I like the idea of epoxies hardness and all that but I do a fair amount of bridge work & can't handle the aggravation. What am I missing?

  Dale Erwin
Erwins Piano Restorations
4721 Parker Rd, Modesto, Ca. 95357
erwinspiano@aol.com
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