making key bushing cauls

[Ron Nossaman]

>I'd like to see a side-by-side trial of the "Bushmaster" method and the
>Spurlock system. I use the Spurlock system and love it, but I have never
>tried the other. Anyone used both? Opinions? I recall can't imagine anything
>slicker than the Spurlock system.
>
>Terry Farrell
>
>I've used both and have come up with a hybrid system: I use the Spurlock
>system with hot hide glue, but with brass cauls.  The thickest brass caul is
>used to hold the first bushing in place, the required size is used for the
>other side.  Then I place a clothes iron (set on cotton) on top of the final
>cauls.  This reactivates the hide glue, sizes the bushing hole in the key
>and sets the cloth bushing to the caul.  Let stand over night. The key hole
>sizing step is eliminated, as well as any easing.  Steaming the old bushings
>out will also size the balance rail.
>
>Paul C

In the late 70's, I made a tool that works somewhat like the Bushmaster, 
copied from an existing tool someone had that originally came from who 
knows where. Both of these tools lacked a means of indexing the depth of 
the cloth, so my copy didn't work too well. For years, I used hide glue, 
cauls, and two pieces of appropriate thickness cloth, inserted into the 
mortise, caul inserted, and trimmed flush with the caul with a knife. This 
worked, ok, with near zero waste of bushing cloth, but was hard to gage the 
depth of the bushing in the mortise. Lately, I've used my old homemade 
tool, re-modified with ears to index the cloth to proper depth (like the 
Bushmaster). It's quick and wastes three times as much bushing cloth as is 
glued in the keys. Unnecessary waste offends me, but the uniformity of the 
job is just what I was after, so that's where I currently am.

I suppose if I did key bushings on a weekly basis I might be doing it 
differently, since it always seems to take me half a set to get comfortable 
with it and in rhythm, this is easy and mindless enough a system for me to 
run it. When I get tired of looking at my funky little tool, or it finally 
falls apart and dies, I'll probably buy a Bushmaster.

So how do you Spurlock method bushers index cloth depth, and are you happy 
with the result?

Ron N