> Greetings kind folk, > I’m hoping that someone out there in cyber land can help me today. I > have the task of thickness trimming on some prehung hammers from S&S. The > hammers came too thick for the vintage grand I’m working on as there is not > sufficient clearance to allow reliable individual hammer movement. > Ordinarily I would do this before hanging hammers but since these are > pre-hung …. well I’m a bit stuck. Does anyone know of a jig that could be > built that would accommodate trimming with the shanks on? The archives seem > to point to something from Roger Jolly but the posts I read were not > conclusive that one exists. Help?!? > > Greg Newell Hi Greg, The easiest way that occurs, and possibly safest, would be to buy or make something like this http://www.specialtytuners.com/sanding_disk.html and do them on a drill press. I'd probably go 60 grit. A raised "pad" to set the hammer on will accommodate the side angle of the shank, and a strip of wood tacked on the pad will give you a fence to hold the hammer against to avoid spontaneous launching. A couple of "bites" on each side, keeping the shank clear of the disc, should be able to thin them to whatever you need. I presume the tails are already tapered, and will likely be narrow enough without further work??? The bigger hammers will be easy to keep flat, and the sides parallel, but the treble hammers get tougher. If the trebles are hung square to the shank, that gives you an outrigger (the shank) to square the hammer to the sander with another block of wood clamped to the table for the shank to rest on. You might find it easier to make two separate setups. One elevated for the "shank down" side of the angled hammers and one flat with outrigger support for the "shank up" side of the angled hammers (which will be wide enough to control without the outrigger), and both sides of the smaller square hung hammers. Either way, it's more work than thinning prior to hanging. Let us know what works for you. Ron N
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