Les I have found the best way is to have a designated 5/8 (new, or very sharp) chisel in your tool kit just for dealing with this problem. I normally have a old cutting board in my car and place a thick layer of newspaper over the board so that the off cuts can be wrapped up and thrown away. I place the key on the newspaper covered board (keytops upwards) and then apply a downward cut with the chisel, sometimes two cuts are needed if they are thick. Using a file will only clog up after one or two keys. They normally will grow back after a few years so I've got no idea if sealing the lead stops them from growing again. Spraying the key with lacquer seems a bit messy when you could do the same job with a small brush. Robin Stevens ARPT South Australia From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Leslie Bartlett Sent: Wednesday, 5 March 2008 2:51 PM To: 'Pianotech List' Subject: key leads I have a piano to deal with next week- most of the leads are swelling. They can't afford to replace them, so my thought is to file them, then spray lacquer on the lead. The corrosion goes down very little into the actual lead. Also need to replace most if not all hammer return springs. Does that lead dust cause the springs to deteriorate and break? les bartlett -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20080305/c94dc50d/attachment.html
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