making key bushing cauls

[Joe And Penny Goss]

With the other side of the hole.
Joe Goss RPT
Mother Goose Tools
imatunr@srvinet.com
www.mothergoosetools.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Nossaman" <rnossaman@cox.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 10:49 AM
Subject: RE: making key bushing cauls


>
> >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
>
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