David, Did you remove the hammers and place them in groups in a vise to dress the hammers, or do them in situ? On this 1883 Bechstein I used French chalk to whiten the hammer surfaces and then vigorous brushing with a nailbrush. That action by the way is one of those ghastly Schwander French Crank (Molyneux) actions. Instead of a Dremel I made my own hammer filing tool using an empty cotton reel bobbin and Black & Decker cordless screwdriver. The stringing on the piano was original and I used the same tool but with steel wool attached to the bobbin to clean the bass strings. It really brought them back to life, more from the vibration than anything else. Still a crap piano though. AF ----- Original Message ----- From: David Boyce To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2011 1:24 AM Subject: [pianotech] Cosmetic aspects of filed hammers Yesterday I tried hammer filing using a small Dremel-type tool for the first time. Hitherto, I've always used home-made sanding paddles. I've been meaning to ask for a while, what others do, if anything, to improve the appearance cosmetically when the top surface of the hammers is very grubby. I found yesterday that the dremel tool was quite good for that. I am attaching two pairs of before-and-after pics. One from hand filing, and yesterday's with the little drill. The angle of the photos makes it look as if all trace of grooves was removed, but actually that's not the case. Plus, the photos seem to exaggerate small unevenesses! I have read in the past, of using dressmakers' chalk to brighten grubby hammer topsides, but that seems a laborious process and somehow slightly distasteful. Best regards, David Boyce -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20110313/4e65f578/attachment-0001.htm> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 97097 bytes Desc: not available URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20110313/4e65f578/attachment-0003.jpeg> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 45004 bytes Desc: not available URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20110313/4e65f578/attachment-0004.jpeg> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 15835 bytes Desc: not available URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20110313/4e65f578/attachment-0005.jpeg>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC