Ditto Ed. The Bolduc system is much better than other methods I've seen. Jim Busby ________________________________ From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Ed Sutton [ed440 at mindspring.com] Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 5:21 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Removing a Steinway Pinblock Al- Having used Saws-All, circular saw and Bolduc cutter, I much prefer the Bolduc cutter, used with care, to include: 1) Ear and eye protection. 2) Chock the casters so the piano doesn't roll away while you're cutting. (Terror #1) 3) Make sure the cutter shank is set as deeply as possible in the collet, so it doesn't come loose in the middle of the cut. (TERROR!!! #2) Please don't ask how I know...damage was minimal. 4) Some Steinways have an angled stretcher, which must be shimmed out to get a vertical cut. I keep the cutter in a designated router, so it is ready to go with minimal need to remember how to set up the router. Or how to get the shank all the way into the collet. Cut with the router, saw through between the bass and tenor, drill out the end dowels, crank up with a jack and hit with a mallet, and the block pops out in two neat pieces. Ed Sutton ----- Original Message ----- From: Al Guecia/AlliedPianoCraft<mailto:AlliedPianoCraft at hotmail.com> To: Pianotech List<mailto:pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 5:08 PM Subject: [pianotech] Removing a Steinway Pinblock Dear List, I know this has been discussed before, but I'm about to replace another Steinway pinblock and would like to find the most efficient and easiest way to proceed. I remember using a hand held circular saw on my first pinblock (35 years ago, very young and foolish, very scary, much too dangerous and too much hand work). I am now using a reciprocating saw (still too much hand work). I know of three methods that I have not tried and one wild and crazy thought. 1) The DeWalt DW304PK. Looks like this saw will be able to cut pretty close to the stretcher with not too much hand work afterwards. I think this would be much better that the recip I've been using. 2) The alcohol and water method. I don't know how time consuming this method is, but it seems to me, there wouldn't be too much handwork involved. 3) The Bolduc router method, (that looks pretty scary to me also), and also requires quite a bit of handwork. 4) And now a wild and crazy thought. I have an small, electric, chain saw. I was thinking about making up a jig to hold the saw and ride the stretcher. I just want to through this one out there to see if anyone has tried it or thought about it. I think this will still require a bit, but not too much hand cleanup afterwards. All suggestions to make this job easier with less grunt work will be greatly appreciated. Al -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090525/fa7f52db/attachment.htm>
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