At 02:44 PM 6/7/98, Roger Jolly wrote: <snip> > Your point on the lanolin is well taken. However the modern bleaching and >high temperatures used today gets rid of most of the lanolin, the old cold >pressed hammers had a slight yellow tinge, (lanolin) but most modern >hammers are pure white. It's been a theory of mine that the loss of the >lanolin has been the main cause in the loss of elasticity in modern >hammers. This was backed up several years ago when I had a friend of mine >run Gas Chromatography samples on a 40yr old Baldwin cold pressed hammer in >comparison with an Imadegawa sample. The Baldwin sample had a high >concentration, the Imadegawa just trace amounts. The explanation I have >recieved from a manufacturer when I challenged them, is that pure white >hammers look better, and therefore implies better quality. This suggests a crazy notion. Awhile back we were talking about lubricating center pin bushings, and Ivory soap was mentioned as an easing solution ingredient because it was high in lanolin. Has anyone tried dissolving Ivory bar soap in water, and using it on the sides of hammers to get lanolin back in? Could it restore elasticity, and if so, what tests would one use to find that out? My general tendency is to avoid putting weird stuff in hammers, which is why I prefer steam to Downy fabric softener to voice them down. Still, one wonders ... I think it should be tried first on a set of very hard white hammers which are on the way out already. (If it should be tried at all <g>.) Susan Susan Kline P.O. Box 1651 Philomath, OR 97370 skline@proaxis.com "With a little more courage, I could get myself into a lot more trouble." -- Ashleigh Brilliant
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC