Thinning hammer shanks,

[Roger Jolly]

Hi ED, 
      Shanks can be slimmed down in the following manner quite quickly and
accurately.  Remove hammmer and shank, clamp to bench with two spring
clamps at the hammer head and flang, remove the required amount of material
with a good old fashioned spoke shave, lightly sand with 120 grit sand
paper, Job done.
  Some cautionary notes The blade needs to sharp, secondly make several
fine cuts and watch out for grain orientation, dont exert too much downward
force. You may pay some dues with the odd broken untill you get the touch.
Practice on an old set of shanks first
> Re; our previous comments hammer mass and touch weight, this tappering
technique is usually reserved for cheaper pianos that have uniform shanks
throughout. The difference in singing tone is well worth the effort. I
usually do both treble sections, gradually taking off less material. I also
do this before removing hammer mass to correct touch weight problems.
Kind regards Roger.
Roger Jolly
University of Saskatchewan
Dept. of Music.