Ditto, what he said. The problem for me is that I still buy my hammers pre-drilled so I am at the mercy of someone else's quality control for hole location and angle. Too often this ends up not being the precise angle I need so I have to open up the gap a little and rely on the glue to fill it. Dean Dean May cell 812.239.3359 PianoRebuilders.com 812.235.5272 Terre Haute IN 47802 -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Ron Nossaman Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 12:13 AM To: Pianotech List Subject: Re: glue for hammers > There is a lot of talk about glue that will 'fill the gap" Is this > really a good thing? Yes, I think it is. >Should hammers be fitted to shanks in such a way > that there are gaps that need filling? Yes, I think they should if you are to have any hope of aligning them fore and aft, or port and starboard, for that matter, before the moisture in the glue causes the joint to seize up. > What ever happened to properly fitting hammers to shanks rolled through > a good quality knurler? This compresses the wood and as soon as water > touches the shank, it expands to a tight fit in the hammer by itself. Of > course the glue does the main job of holding the two pieces, but the > better they fit in the first place, the better the joint will be. I've heard a lot of talk through the years of doing this, but when it comes down to actual humans hanging real hammers in physical pianos, the joint is likely fitted with enough slop (intentional and controlled, but yes, slop) to make alignment adjustments possible. What happened to "properly fitted" hammers seems to be that it never was a standard in anything other than concept. Those of you who are hanging hammers with "size on" boring and no taper reaming for adjustment have my apology, admiration, and incredulity. Ron N
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