<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'><DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> Hi David,   I've taken staples out--only because other people told me I could...and well, I believed them.  :-)   At the CERS this fall, Wally Brooks told a fellow that the integrity of the hammers was destroyed (can't remember his exact words, but he got pretty excited about it) when folks remove staples to control hammer weight.   I figure Wally probably knows something about hammers...   Anyway, I'd be interested if anyone had ever had a hammer spring open (some time, sooner or later) after removing the staple.  Guess I'll be crossing my fingers about those staples I've removed in the past--though I think most of them had a bunch of lacquer holding them together.    Barbara Richmond, RPT near Peoria, IL     ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos@comcast.net> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 9:50:40 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: Role of the Staple on a hammer An older subject but I've been meaning to comment on this.  A few things have been written about whether the staple is necessary to secure the glue joint on a hammer.  While I do agree that the glue does most (if not all) of the work holding the felt to the molding, I think the staple does play a role in maintaining the overall tension in the felt.  Hammers without staples must resort to reinforcers (which I have done on occasion) or some application of heat to stabilize this region.  I think the use of heat to create stability has a potential downside in that too much will simply remove tension from the felt rather than reinforce this area in any particular way.  For that reason, I'm not yet ready to abandon the use of the staple.      David Love davidlovepianos@comcast.net www.davidlovepianos.com </DIV></div></body></html>