<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><div>I remember when I first went to the hardware store to replace a vintage, Made in USA screw (with a bunged-up slot) with a modern one, only to find that its "steel" replacement weighed only 1/2 as much!!! (What do they do, make these vthings "Air-Puff&#39;d" or something?) After 6 such screws broke off while trying to screw and glue a cover board back to the maple back post assembly in an upright, I switched to the star-drive deckers.<br /><br /></div></td></tr></table>            <div id="_origMsg_">
                <div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif:font-size:10pt">
                    <br />
                    <div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt">
                        <font size="2" face="Tahoma">
                            <hr size="1">
                            <b>
                                <span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span>
                            </b>
                            Ron Nossaman &lt;rnossaman@cox.net&gt;;                            <br>
                            <b>
                                <span style="font-weight:bold:">To:</span>
                            </b>
                             &lt;pianotech@ptg.org&gt;;                                                                                                     <br>
                            <b>
                                <span style="font-weight:bold:">Subject:</span>
                            </b>
                            Re: [pianotech] Wood? (Straightening of.)                            <br>
                            <b>
                                <span style="font-weight:bold;">Sent:</span>
                            </b>
                            Sat, Jun 30, 2012 11:35:34 PM                            <br>
                            </font>
                            <br>
                            <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
                                <tbody>
                                    <tr>
                                        <td valign="top" style="font:inherit;">On 6/30/2012 5:30 PM, Joseph Garrett wrote:<BR>&gt; Thumper,<BR>&gt; As I said before, (you must have missed it&lt;G&gt;), Screws do not add<BR>&gt; strength!! They, in fact, create problems of their own.<BR><BR>Agreed, in something like a broken leg. Screws are, however, very good at pulling otherwise unclampable joints together. After the glue dries, you can replace the screws with dowels - or not.<BR><BR><BR>&gt; Do not EVER us<BR>&gt; those damned "sheet rock screws" in a piano!<BR><BR>Sheetrock screws are quite handy in all sorts of applications including pianos.<BR><BR><BR>&gt; They are made for Sheet<BR>&gt; Rock! They are hardened, which makes them a real pain in the tush to<BR>&gt; extract should they break...which they do more often than not.<BR><BR>Then you need to learn how to use and install them. The hardness of the screws is what makes them much more difficult
 to break then the typical low grade imported junk that is sold for wood screws these days. I wouldn't be without them.<BR><BR><BR>&gt; HIDE GLUE is what the piano was put together<BR>&gt; with.<BR><BR>Not a reasonably recent piano.<BR><BR><BR>&gt; Use that. any other Glue will not bond to hide glue very well.<BR><BR>Including epoxy, nor will any glue at all bond with the more modern glues when the joint fails, whatever you do.<BR><BR>Ron N<BR></td>
                                    </tr>
                                </tbody>
                            </table>
                    </div>
                </div>
            </div>