Fwd: "shaving" old key leads

[D.L. Bullock]

Shaving key leads:

I WOULD NOT DO IT!!!  No I don't worry about the lead shavings, a few
minutes of lead dust will not be a health concern unless you did it for 8
hrs a day for years.

I would not do it because I have seen  what happens next.  Since I restore
square grands, I had one some years ago that had keys that would not move at
all.  Once inside, I found that the lead weights in the keys had grown and
frozen up the keyboard.  I had to remove all the old ones.  I found that
after they grew out the sides, the round sides next grew large enough to
split the wood in the keys.  Most of the keys had to be glued back together.
Since then I always replace every swelling lead weight with new.

I use the Forstners for everything.  They are mainly used for making pouch
wells in player systems.  But I find all kinds of uses for them.  They used
to be very expensive but now you can buy a whole set for under $200.00

D.L. Bullock    St. Louis
www.thepianoworld.com <http://www.thepianoworld.com>

-----Original Message-----
From: pianolover 88 [mailto:pianolover88@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 12:04 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: RE: Fwd: "shaving" old key leads


>  Use a forstner bit<

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I actually "discovered" this type of bit at the hardware
store JUST yesterday, and bought the 1/2" size, which is same diameter as
the lead...works great! No dust produced, and each key is finished in
seconds! And here I thought I was the only one who came up with this idea.
:)

Terry Peterson