[CAUT] grand knuckles

[wimblees at aol.com]

Fred said

I was never real good at bolstering. Glue between leather and felt made placement of the material a problem, and generally it was time consuming and the results not worth the effort. 

Fred

?

That is why I recommended wool yarn. The fibers of the yarn grab hold of the fibers of the wool core of the knuckle, and the yarn doesn't travel out. No glue needed. It's also easier to thread yarn on a large needle, and to push?the needle?between the buckskin and the wool core. I "sew" about a dozen?together, and then cut the yarn with a razor blade. 

Wim

-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu>
To: caut at ptg.org
Sent: Thu, Sep 24, 2009 4:01 pm
Subject: Re: [CAUT] grand knuckles



On Sep 24, 2009, at 11:51 AM, Dan Rembold wrote:?
?
> List,?
> I have a Steinway D in our main recital hall that I service, that > gets a lot of use. This piano was rebuilt by another shop about two > years ago, and the hammers are holding up well, but the knuckles are > already becoming flat and misshapen. The hammers, shanks, and > flanges are Steinway. It's already to the point that the player can > "feel" the jack drag off the front "node" of the knuckle, and > getting an exact clean let-off point is hard to do.?
>?
> I've thought of trying to fluff the knuckles with a brass brush. > Are there some other tips that I could use to extend the knuckle > life expentancy until the next hammer change? Flange centers are > still good.?
?
? I was never real good at bolstering. Glue between leather and felt made placement of the material a problem, and generally it was time consuming and the results not worth the effort. That's my experience, and others obviously are happy with their bolstering techniques.?
? Maybe 15 years ago Ed Hilbert wrote about a different technique, cutting one side of the leather away from the shank, stretching it, and re-gluing. I tried it, liked it, and that has been my technique of choice ever since, for loose leather. I wrote about it in some detail fairly recently on this list, I think within the last year. If you are interested and can't find it in the archives, I can probably find the posts in my sent mail.?
? But that is for loose leather. Most of the time, standard treatment is brushing with a brass brush (I use refills for a tool designed for cleaning barbeque grills, as it is larger and cheaper than a suede brush, and essentially the same brass wires - covers more ground faster) to remove any build up of any sort, whether dirt or transfer of graphite from rep and jack. Essentially restoring the surface to being clean and unglazed. Then apply powdered teflon powder. I do that any time an action is getting somewhat major procedures done, like filing hammers, scuffing tails, and the like.?
? I think this treatment is probably the best available for longevity. The leather, and the felt under it, are both going to compress over time. If they stay clean and lubed, and if the leather is still tight, the feel will be okay, in my experience.?
? An unbrushed set of knuckles will glaze and the letoff will feel draggy after a year of less of fairly heavy use.?
Regards,?
Fred Sturm?
University of New Mexico?
fssturm at unm.edu?
?
?
?

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20090924/49825b61/attachment-0001.htm>