<html> <body> Hi Geoff,                     I DO NOT  advise using a steam kettle, one of my reasons for writing the article in the Journal, a few years ago, was that there is very little control, and very inconsistent results. Give me you address off list and I will send you a reprint copy. Alcohol and water tends to deform the hammer shape and you can very quickly ruin a set of hammers, unless you have some voicing experience. If you do not have an electric voicing iron, you can get the same results using the tip of a clothes iron, it's just a little more difficult to work with. Regards Roger At 11:55 PM 9/14/2006, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""> Of course! I'd forgotten about the vice-grip trick. But wait, there's more. I'm so glad that this list has an archive. After reading Alan's reply I did a search on both vice grip voicing and steam voicing and was rewarded with some very informative and helpful ideas. Including the suggestion of an 8 to 1 alcohol to fabric softener treatment from 1995. Steaming the hammer, quickly, was the all around preferred method of dealing with extraordinarily hard hammers. I think I'll pick up a little electric tea kettle on my way in tomorrow morning and give steam a chance first before resorting to the vice grip method. I almost feel like I'm about to perform a magic trick.   Thanks to all --   -- Geoff Sykes -- Assoc. Los Angeles     <dl> <dd>-----Original Message----- <dd>From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [<a href="mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org" eudora="autourl"> mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org</a>] On Behalf Of Alan R. Barnard <dd>Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 8:28 PM <dd>To: pianotech@ptg.org <dd>Subject: RE: Alcohol and hard hammers <dd>I'd be leaping on those puppies with my modified Vice-grips (a la Wally Brooks) followed by a lightly damp rag and the back side of my voicing iron, i.e., steam. <dd>The needle-in-a-Dremmel works well. <dd>I'd try all those things before spending a day trying to, as one put it, "split hickory knots using a corn dodger as a wedge and a pumpkin for a mallet." <dd>A quote for Texans: "The universal food of the people of Texas, both rich and poor, seems to be corn-dodger and fried bacon."  Frederick Law Olmsted, 'A Journey Through Texas' (1856) <dd>Alan Barnard <dd>Salem, MO <dd>Joshua 24:15 <dd>  <hr> <dd>Original message <dd>From: "Geoff Sykes" <dd>To: "Pianotech@Ptg. Org" <dd>Received: 09/14/2006 8:09:38 PM <dd>Subject: Alcohol and hard hammers <dd>Tomorrow I have to go up against a new, out of the box, upright piano with ROCK hard hammers. I have been asked to voice the hammers down significantly in order to reduce the unpleasant brittle harsh cold sound. Last time I had to do this I just aggressively needled away for a long time. Very aggressively with lots of broken needles. Even after I was "finished" I was still unable to get a needle in more than about 1mm. <dd>  <dd>Not too long ago, on the list, I read that treating hard hammers with a little alcohol would help un-compact the felt. However, these are new hammers and are probably hard because of a hardening treatment. Today's question is: Would a small alcohol treatment help? If not, what would you suggest? <dd>  <dd>-- Geoff Sykes <dd>-- Assoc. Los Angeles </dl></blockquote></body> </html>