[CAUT] Rinsing lacquer from hammers

[Ed Sutton]

Fred, you can see in this picture that the fibers have a scaly surface. My memory, unconfirmed by any direct experiments, is that the water absorption and also the attachment of sizings, such as lacquer or glue, has to do with these scales. At least a light sizing stiffens the fibers without actually gluing them together. This goes back to my interest in paper, and may not apply to piano hammers.
Ed Sutton


----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Fred Sturm 
  To: caut at ptg.org 
  Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 8:59 PM
  Subject: Re: [CAUT] Rinsing lacquer from hammers


  On Feb 14, 2011, at 6:43 PM, PAULREVENKOJONES at aol.com wrote:


    I'll try this again. Maybe the pics before were too large.

    P


  Yes, of course. I have similar photos from Stephen Birkett's website. They show quite clearly that the fibers are not, in fact, hollow, at least to my eye. The link from the wiki article on wool, saying its fibers are hollow, sends you to a web page that does, indeed, say that Angora wool (rabbit) fibers are hollow. I was unable to see any evidence on that page to back up the statement with respect to sheep's wool. I saw various references in various places to the fact that the interior of the fibers absorbs water, up to 30% by weight, stuff I had read about before. Reasons why wool clothes were used so much, to keep you warm even in the wet.



  Regards,
  Fred Sturm
  fssturm at unm.edu
  "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain

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