[CAUT] VSProfelt vs alcohol/water/softener vs steam

[Chris Solliday]

good study, I hope that you will give us an update on how they hold up
comparatively over time, maybe 60days, 120, a year?
Chris Solliday
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Sturm" <fssturm at unm.edu>
To: "caut University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 9:07 AM
Subject: [CAUT] VSProfelt vs alcohol/water/softener vs steam


> I finally found the opportunity to do a comparison of VSProfelt with
> an emulated mixture of alcohol, water, and fabric softener. I did
> wippen cushions and key bushings on an upright. For the key bushings,
> I also did a comparison with my usual steam method.
> My emulated mixture was approximately 12% softener, 18% alcohol, and
> 70% water (the figures are a result of adding to a 5 mm line for
> softener, 15 mm with 70% isolpropyl alcohol, and 40 with water - those
> lines being cumulative. This was not utterly precise, just a
> convenient guess, and then I did the calculations of percentage). I
> think the VSProfelt is actually lower in alcohol and higher in
> softener, and it also has silicon oil added in some formulation. VSP
> is milkier looking than what I made, and it doesn't wick quite as fast
> into the felt - hence my guess about more softener and less alcohol.
> Results? A tie. VSP works quite nicely. So does a mix of alcohol,
> water and softener. I couldn't tell any difference in the results
> whatsoever, other than the lubricant in VSP.
> The tie was between VSP and my emulation solution. Steam was
> significantly faster, and slightly more effective - key bushings only
> in this case. I think the more effective part came from the steam re-
> expanding the wood where it might have been squeezed/eased previously.
> For the bushings I had the keys in two Spurlock clamps. I applied the
> liquids using a tapered, pointed paintbrush (in preference to a hypo
> oiler, that takes longer because of the need to apply to each side
> separately). I did one key clamp with liquids, the other with steam.
> For the liquids, I alternated between sharps and naturals for the
> different solutions, changing the alternation when I changed from
> balance to front rail. The full steaming and ironing process took
> considerably less time than applying the liquids and inserting the
> cauls.
> I'll send a separate post following with photos of the steam process.
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> University of New Mexico
> fssturm at unm.edu
>
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