My favorite epoxy: 301 Epoxy Technology Water Thin Epoxy (not cheap, premium performance) My favorite mixers: West Systems: 406 Colloidal Silica Adhesive Filler 410 Microlight Fairing Compound My favorite leak containment: Masking Tape I swab the sides of the crack with straight 301 to let it permeate the pores of the wood. Then I mix in filler to thicken and fairing compound to color (tan), you could mix in saw dust if you prefer. So far, I prefer to flip the piano upside-down and mask the 'topside' board surface. This way, any shrinkage of the curing epoxy will be on the bottom of the board. Better Living through Chemistry, Jon Page PS I take issue with methods other than Bill Spurlock's routing method. Afterall, the other methods seem to merely force the crack wider, compressing, destroying the wood/cell structure and glazing the surface. No wonder I see shims cracked. I don't want to duplicate previous poor woodworking procedures. Not to mention the dry rot which we all know about. Epoxy At 04:52 PM 01/04/2001 -0800, you wrote: >Jon, >Do you mix the epoxy with sawdust or use it as is? I've got a soundboard >crack job coming up, so I'd like to know the details. > >Ted Simmons > >I now perfer to use > > epoxy to fill the void if necessary. Epoxy fills I have done twenty > years ago > > are still good while shims have cracked. > > > > Reagrds, > > > > Jon Page > > > > > > > >> From: "Greg Newell" <gnewell@ameritech.net> > >> To: "Pianotech, forum" <pianotech@ptg.org> > >> Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2001 11:31 PM > >> Subject: Was it something I said? > >> > >> > >>> Greetings fellow listees, > >>> About a week agao I post this message and only had two people > >>> respond. I really could use some more opinions so I'll try posting this > >>> again. Please take a moment to respond. I really could use your advice! > >>> > >>> Greg > >>> > >>> Greetings folks, > >>>> I need the advice of you treasured people who are so kind to find > >>>> the time to teach those clueless people like myself. > >>>> I took in a piano for a customer who was having a property of > >>> theirs > >>>> demolished and needed to get the piano out in a hurry. She is having > >>> and > >>>> A.B.Chase (early 20's vintage) refinished, restrung, and action > >>>> overhauled for her family. I have had this piano in my home for about > >>>> three months acting as a big surface upon which to gather many many > >>>> useless items. I recently was preparing to begin the restringing > >>> process > >>>> and took down the tension on all the strings and removed the bass > >>>> strings. I plan to have Newton redesign the scale for this while , > >>>> hopefully teaching me how to do it for future piano I may inflict my > >>>> talents upon. Since I took down the tension about a week ago I found > >>>> something rather startling. What began as one very shim able but not > >>> yet > >>>> seperated crack in the board has now become 6 or more two of which > >>> have > >>>> separated from the ribs at spots and are wide enough to see daylight > >>>> through. I would call the main crack to be about thick enough to slip > >>> a > >>>> thin guitar pick through. This particular one has the wood being > >>> uneven > >>>> on both side of the crack indicating it's separation from the ribs. > >>>> Naturally this big one is right through the center of the board. > >>>> I'd like the opinion of this list as to whether these cracks can > >>> or > >>>> should be repaired or is it time for another board? I've never left > >>>> tension off a piano for this long before. Did I do a no no? If it is > >>>> your opinion that a new board and bridges are necessary then how would > >>> > >>>> you go about telling the customer of this added cost? Do you know > >>> anyone > >>>> in the Cleveland, OH area of perhaps PA area that you can recommend to > >>> > >>>> install a new board and do a job I could be proud to offer? Are there > >>>> any pitfalls along the way I should look out for? What could I expect > >>> to > >>>> pay for a board and bridges? > >>>> I've only subcontracted once before and I got bit really bad that > >>>> time so I'm really gun shy. Thank you for the time and effort to > >>>> respond. I hope the coming days, months, and years bring you all > >>>> continued growth and prosperity. > >>>> > >>>> Greg > >>>> > >>> > >>> -- > >>> Greg Newell > >>> Greg's Piano Forté > >>> 19270 Harlon Ave. > >>> Lakewood, Ohio 44107 > >>> 216-226-3791 > >>> mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net > >>> > >>> > > > > Jon Page, piano technician > > Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. > > mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Jon Page, piano technician Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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