Installing new key end felts

[Farrell]

Re: Installing new key end feltsJD wrote:
I have some suggestions to make. First, the glue must be hot and of the consistency of warm syrup, and it should be applied quickly to the key tails, say a dozen at a time, all nicely aligned and held tight together.  I would never apply glue to an absorbent material like felt, but always to the wood, and I've always thought this was common workshop practice.  Immediately the key ends have been brushed with the glue, put on the felt strip and press it down with the fingers so that the glue gets a good hold on the under-side of the felt.  No clamping is necessary but it's important to leave the keys undisturbed until the glue is set hard.


For this sort of work I never use little disposable blades but have a variety of proper knives that I keep razor sharp using a belgian stone followed by a razor strop.  Illustrated below is a knife that would be ideal for this job.  This is made from an old cabinet scraper set in a beech handle, which happens to be the centre of a copper reel but could be anything.  The scraper is about 6" x 3" and the angle of the blade is very acute.  The handle serves also to preserve the angle of the blade while sharpening on the stone.


With such a knife you'd have to be very careless to get anything but a perfectly vertical cut.  Please let me know off list if you can't see the inserted pictures.

Okay, this all sounds really terrific. At least for cutting the felt. What type of saw do you use to cut the tails of the keys apart?

Terry Farrell
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