Hammers (long)

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Robert W. Hohf wrote:

> ddf wrote:
>
> <The result of all of this is that modern hammers coming from high speed
> presses have much less resilience than do the hammers
> that were pressed from the older cold presses. If you take a sharp knife
> and cut straight down through the crown of modern,
> hot pressed hammer, you will find that it opens up very little compared to
> a cold pressed hammer.>
>
> Is the implication here is that there is much tension and compression in
> cold-pressed hammers and little in hot pressed hammers?  I don't know what
> happens when you slice a new cold-pressed hammer because I don't have any.

There should be more tension, not necessarily more compression.

>  Slice an old cold-pressed hammer and nothing happens.

This has not been my experience unless the old hammer is really shot.


> Slice _stapled_
> Renner or Abel hammers and they open up very wide.  It just takes a while.
> Perhaps weeks or months.  I don't know exactly how long because I haven't
> recorded "slicing" dates on hammers.

Unfortunately the hammer is only in contact with the string for a matter of milliseconds.


> This doesn't apply to Renner Blues
> and I don't know about the Lites.  There is so much tension and compression
> in standard Renner and factory Abel hammers that, if you remove the staples
> (as I did to several sets a number of years ago),sometimes the felt will
> pull right off the moldings.

I haven't tried this, but I will.


> re: heavy needling Lite hammers.
> I have used nothing but Renner and Abel hammers for the last 20+ years.  If
> it takes 10 hours of needling to get the hammers to behave, I believe you
> are needling in the wrong place.  The shoulders are not expendable.
>  Consider the thought behind the Ammon-Dolge hammer pictured on p. 105 of
> _Pianos and Their Makers_.
>
> Bob Hohf
> Wisconsin


Bob,

We have found nearly all modern hammers to be too hard for the work we are now doing. I know that they can all be voiced down
by one of the many techniques currently in vogue. Unfortunately, a hammer that has been voiced down -- whether it is needled,
steamed, soaked in water, squeezed with pliers, drilled through, or whatever -- does not have the natural resilience that is
found in a hammer that is made that way in the first place. Back when I was studying this problem and actually making
hammers, the only ones I was really happy with were those that were cold pressed. Unfortunately, this is not practical for
any kind of production work.

So, please don't misunderstand me here. I don't have the magic elixir. We don't make hammers. We buy them, just like everyone
else. I've tried both Renner Blue's and Renner Lites. We found both to be extremely hard. With a lot of work we could voice
them down to make them softer, but we could not make them resilient. We've used dozens, if not hundreds, of sets of Abel's.
Better, but still much too hard. We've tried Ronsen, which can be great if you get a good set, but they're very erratic, both
in felt density and resiliency, as well as physically. Right now, we're experimenting with Isaacs hammers. They seem to be a
bit less hard than most others and show some promise -- as long as you don't let him shape them to a sharp point before he
sends them to you.

Any other suggestions (from you or anyone else) will be greatly appreciated. This is one topic about which I will read all
posts, no matter how off the wall it might seem.