It is my understanding that the glue joint should be loose enough to maintain a thin film of glue when you insert the dowel. If you notice the ready made dowels, they are made with ridges similar to knurling a hammer shank. What you don't want is a "dry" fit. Sometimes a perfect fit will become too tight due the wood swelling after glue is applied. Looks like you did a logical and permanent repair. Congratulations. Henry Nicolaides Piano Technician, School of Music Southern Illinois University > Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:38:48 -0400 > From: paul at pmpiano.com > To: pianotech at ptg.org; caut at ptg.org > Subject: [CAUT] Glue Strength for Pedal Lyre Repair > > Many thanks to all who contributed to my education the past couple of days! > I ended up gluing the two original top block pieces together, clamped for 24 > hours, then drilled and inserted three 1/2" hardwood dowels. Finally, I put > a little stain on the dowel ends to blend them with the lyre finish > (refinished years ago by somebody else). > > While aware of Steinway lyre construction using posts and wedges, I thought > it best not to remove remaining top block piece from posts or remove the > wedges. I felt re-inserting wedges after gluing the top block might split > my glue joint open again. I just tried to take advantage of the wide > surface area between the two pieces to achieve a good glue joint. > > Question about the doweling: When I drilled the 1/2" holes, my dowels were > a little lose, not a tight fit that needed to be pounded or squeezed in. I > assume with enough glue, this is OK? When I use hammer shanks for wood > filler, the shanks are generally tight in the hole I've drilled. Not sure > why these turned out differently. If anybody reads this paragraph, I'd sure > appreciate insight into whether tight fit is necessary, and how to best > achieve it. Thinking about this because I know clamping a glue joint is so > important. > > Pix attached. > > Paul Milesi, RPT > Washington, DC > (202) 667-3136 > E-mail: paul at pmpiano.com > Website: http://www.pmpiano.com > _________________________________________________________________ The New Busy is not the too busy. Combine all your e-mail accounts with Hotmail. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multiaccount&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_4 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100501/26943e3b/attachment.htm>
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