Water on hammers

[Roger Jolly]

At 09:35 PM 11/25/97 -0500, you wrote:
>While at the Piano Disc training, Don Dusenberry talked about softening
>hammers with a mixture of water/alcohol.  I forget the combination. I
>asked another technician about this and he said that not all types of
>hammers respond the same to water. He specifically mentioned that you
>might think twice about using it on an Asian hammer. (Hot pressed?)
>My experience was that it was very hard to control the amount of
>softening I got. True, in the case of Piano Disc, we were after major
>softening for certain situations. 
>What about the discussion of using steam?  (I saw it in the archives.)
>
>Brad Smith, RPT
>Manchester, NH
>
>Hi Brad,
         I agree with you last line. Having had much experience with both
methods, steaming with a linen cloth is the best alternative.  The alcohol
water works but is difficult to control, and also deforms the shape of the
hammers. even with reshaping after treatment the shoulders tend to pinch
inwards.
Regards 
the closet steamer.
Roger Jolly
University of Saskatchewan
Dept. of Music.