<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3157" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Jolly Steamer is the method that I use most of the time. Fast, easy, controlable. Do a search in the archives on something like 'hammer steaming Roger Jolly" and you should get about a zillion hits.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=gary.fluke@verizon.net href="mailto:gary.fluke@verizon.net">Gary Fluke</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, October 02, 2007 12:59 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Hammer softening</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Ladies and gentlemen,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Would some of you please tell me what liquid solutions and procedures you have used in order to soften hammers for the purpose of voicing?  I have searched the archives and found mention of fabric softener that turns hammers blue, which I don't want to do.  Another solution mentioned was ethanol and water.  That sounds interesting but only one posting mentioned concentration of the constituents.  He said he used rubbing alcohol as that came as 90% denatured alcohol and 10% water.  No mention was made anywhere of the exact procedure when using ethanol.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Gary Fluke</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Snohomish, WA</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>