Verdigris on Steinway rails

[Jon Page]

I just clean the rails with steel wool or a wire wheel.

For the hammer rail, I replace the felt with fine emery
cloth. This is held in place with double sided carpet tape.

Press the tape down and place the cloth on the rail
(don't press down, at this point). With a phillips screw driver
or large awl, punch the first screw hole and secure the flange.
The next punch-out (tap-in) hole is made by placing the tool on the
side of the hole towards the last flange. If you started in the bass
and continuing left to right, place the tool on the left side of the hole.
This will pull the cloth along as you secure the flanges and avoid
buckles in the cloth. 

I've tried pre-punching the holes but it is not worth the effort.

This cloth will give the flanges a surer grip and can be spaced with
a little more confidence.

Jon Page
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	At 08:03 AM 6/16/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I couldn't find anything in the archives, so, here goes.........
>
>I am about to replace an entire Steinway Model "O" (1913) with Renner
>parts.  (my first time with all Renner) The old action has mild verdigris. 
>Should I clean the rails with a particular solution?  Can the Verdigris
>travel eventually from the rails?  Do we know facts about what will happen
>in 50 years on the verdigris problem?  Thanks!  
>
>Lance Lafargue, RPT
>New Orleans Chapter
>Covington, LA.
>lafargue@iamerica.net
>
>