Hammer resurfacing and electric shavers

[G GRAVINA]

Carol,

Sounds interesting.  Could you explain more about this procedure?

Jerry Gravina, RPT
Babylon, NY


At 08:20 PM 10/03/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>Some of you may remember that I traveled to Iceland 20 months ago to visit a
>a young piano technician participant on this list, Kristinn, and his father,
>Leiff, also a piano technician.  Leiff was experimenting with voicing
>hammers with a Braun electric shaver that is not available in this country.
>However, I was able to find a very similar model when I got home that had
>the same micro screen for $19 at CVS.   I finally had an opportunity to try
>this technique on a church piano often accompanied by drums.  Wow! Talk
>about fine resurfacing!
>
>The advantage of this method was that the tops of the hammers came out
>perfectly straight - and they were beautiful  and smooth.  Also too much
>power, but that is what voicing needles are for.  The foil on the shaver can
>do 3 hammers at a time.  This is definitely a technique worth pursuing, but
>there were a few pitfalls:
>
>1) rough in the shape first with a file.  While I was also at CVS, I bought
>a package of those dark black emory boards for filing fingernails.  Since
>they have a foam core, they are flexible.  I thought they did a better job
>than any rigid sanding stick I had ever used.
>
>2) Only use the shaver for the final "cut".  I played around on the larger
>hammers without roughing in the shape first, so I shaved through the foil
>about half way through the set.  I continued to use the shaver after the
>foil was obliterated, but it gave a nicer appearance to those hammers before
>I broke the thing.
>
>3) The model shaver I bought is no longer available, or replacement foils.
>That is okay this time because there was enough money in the job to spend
>the $21 on the equipment.  I checked at Target and priced new shavers at $30
>and extra foils for $25.  Perhaps there are cheaper Braun single
>microscreens out there somewhere else.  Also, mine was electric, instead of
>a rechargeable battery.  I would recommend this for a whole set, but there
>are advantages of having a battery operated unit for occassional touch-up
>use.  The cord not getting in the way being a big advantage.
>
>I think this technique has promise, but there needs to be a way to not have
>to buy a new electric shaver everytime you want to resurface a set of
>hammers!
>
>If you think this idea is crazy, you should try working in this city!  Talk
>about a  "day in the life"!  Five people were shot and killed by sniper fire
>today in the neighborhood I was working! ..and the sniper is still at large.
>It was also the neighborhood I lived as a teenager.  And to think, within
>the last 24 hours, I was informed that my second grandchild is on the way!
>Enough for one day.
>
>Carol Beigel
>
>
>
>
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