[CAUT] Garfield vs CA

[Susan Kline]

At 09:15 AM 12/18/2005 -0800, you wrote:


>I've had poor success with CA, using thin stuff, too.  Did a Baldwin M by 
>turning it over and using the glue from the bottom.  Tried a deligint 
>block and that was just hopeless.  Maybe it's the type of piano.....  Got 
>to make a decision in two hours...
>Any more clues?  Going, going,.................................
>thanks
>les

With CA, less is more (pardon the pun), and its best feature is the power 
to wick into narrow cracks. The place you want it is at the top of the pin, 
where flagpoling has widened the hole. You don't want it underneath, where 
it keeps the pin from turning deeper into the block as you pull up the 
string, and where the hole will already be the tightest. My thinking is 
that if the pin is loose enough that it doesn't hold, it's loose enough for 
the CA to wick down to where it is needed, from the spot where the pin 
disappears into the block or plate bushing. Also, a second small 
application of CA after the first small application of CA may have better 
effects, since the first (small) application of CA probably wicked away 
from the pin, but also sealed the cracks as it hardened, so that the second 
(small) application of CA is more likely to stay next to the pin, where it 
is needed. A BIG application of CA just goes all over the place, is slower 
to set up, and makes way too many toxic fumes. CA is not Garfields, and 
shouldn't be used anything like Garfields. (Oh, my opinion is SO HUMBLE!)

If you decide to go the traditional route with the glycerin and alcohol, be 
sure you don't go out of your way to find "good, old-fashioned" real 
methanol. It is highly toxic. Read the denatured alcohol can carefully, and 
use plenty of ventilation, no matter what type of treatment you decide on.