<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Re: Installing new key end felts</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<STYLE type=text/css>BLOCKQUOTE {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
DL {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
UL {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
OL {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
LI {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
</STYLE>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2912" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV><FONT color=#000088>
<DIV><FONT color=#000088><EM>JD wrote:</EM></FONT></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000088><EM>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.</EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000088><BR><EM></EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000088><EM>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.</EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000088><BR><EM></EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000088><EM>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.</EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000088></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=3>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?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=3>Terry
Farrell</FONT></FONT></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>