Fixing up the action

                      Hide Glue is used to fix most of the wooden or felt parts of a piano.
                 I pulled the action out to see if there was anything that needed attention.
             The Hammer rail felt needs replacing and  some broken cords that needed to be fix.

There were 4 places that had needed news cords to hold down the whippen

Using the hide glue and some cord (similar in size to the old one) that I found lying around, I glued the new cord to the action, let it dry and then pushed the metal hook under the looped cord.

And then the old back check needed to be scraped off and the new one glued on.

The next post will be about changing the strings and taking the dampers off.

Thanks for reading

       

Back Check

            Much of the leather on the back checks were fraying and rotting off.

Before we can fix this we must make some glue...

So I made a trip to walmart and bought some raw hide dog bones.

You first soak the bones for a while until they're soft. Then using a sharp knife cut the hide into smaller pieces. Put the pieces of hide back into the crockpot and fill with water just above

the hide.( In this picture there is a little too much water in the pot.)

Let this cook on high until the hide becomes dissolved and becomes one with the water.

You can test it by putting a little glue between your thumb and index finger 

and it should stick a bit as you pull them apart.

At this point if you wish to use it that day you can cook it down till its thick and sticky.

But if your making a big batch and wish to preserve it, this is the next step.

 Pour the glue in a pan to let the liquid turn to gel.

It will gel up in about twelve hours.

Once it's gelled you can scoop out the whole piece, then cut it into stips and subcut into cubes.

I used a fan on to help dry out the glue. Every two hours or so rub your hand over the cubes to turn them over. Do this for a day or two till the cubes are hard and dehydrated.

You are finished.  I stored these in a ziploc until ready to use.

Over the next month I had found a cheap small crock pot from the thrift store that I could dedicate to making glue. So when I was ready I could take the cubes of glue, put some extra water with it and heat it up again.  

Here's a video of what the glue looked like and how it worked.

Blogspot is not letting me put the video on but I was able to upload it to Youtube.

Here is the link.

Fixing The Back Checks