sawing off hammershank tails

[Nichols]

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Wim,
    I take off the shank bits at the same time I shape the tails. I clamp 
up a section of hammers with a standard sandwich clamp, and grind off the 
bits with a right-angle grinder fitted with a couple of thicknesses of 50 
grit wheels. 41/2 to 6 inch dia.. I prefer the air tool variety, but a 
19.99 Harbor Freight grinder will work. Air gives you a lot more control, 
and runs a bit quieter. Come by the rebuilding skills class at Annual for a 
demo. I learned it from Jamie Marks and have been using it for years. After 
taking off the bits I shape the tails, and the 50 grit leaves the wood just 
right for positive checking without tearing up the leather. No checkering 
file needed. I often reshape existing tails for the heck of it now, because 
it's about 10 minutes to make a huge difference on some of the older, 
angled-and-mangled imports.

Later,
Guiy

At 12:57 PM 2/19/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>I used to saw off the ends of shanks with a Dremel saw. But Dremel 
>discontinued making them. (I guess too many people trying to stop the saw 
>with their fingers, and suing Dremel because it cut off their fingers.)
>
>For a while I was taking the hammers and shanks off, and trimming the 
>tails with a band saw. But lately I've been using a Heavy Duty Cutt-Off 
>Wheel, no. 420 from Dremel. I just did a set,  and it worked OK, except 
>that it burns the wood, which creates a bad smell, and I used 6 wheels.
>
>Does anyone else have a way to trim the tails, other than using a band saw?
>
>Wim
>Willem Blees, RPT
>Piano tuner/technician
>School of Music
>University of Alabama

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