Re: [Harp-L] files



Matthew Smart wrote:
Lubricate them with first with mineral oil

Never tried that; good idea.


Clean them with wire brush or dremel metal brush attachment
dont use your best one for filing solder

You guys ever hear of a file card? It's a very short and tough bristled brush specially made for removing foreign material from files. I should add that I haven't actually tried this because I don't like using silver solder for tuning. Last time I felt the need to drastically retune a harp I used the method that Pat Missin used to recommend -- brass powder mixed with epoxy (haven't checked to see what he recommends these days). That worked quite well for me. Easy to apply without risking getting solder on the adjacent reed plate. Apply a pile, let it cure and then file or sand as needed. If you change your mind, an Exacto knife will chip it off quite cleanly. It sounds, however, that Blu-tack has overtaken solder in popularity for retuning.


I keep a separate one for that, it will get gunked up no matter what

I use cheap files for the work that gunks up files and reserve high-quality files for fine work.


Michelle





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