Dear Michael, 
  Such a pleasant memory you share with us.  I can just smell the glue and imagine you in the wood shop as a young man, learning all the complicated steps that go into making a piano, even how to keep glue warm.  I cherish these little bits of advice we learn from our elders.
   
  JW 

Michael Johnson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  It is 6.30am in the UK, good morning.

One of my duties as an apprentice to John Broadwood & Son’s, was to 
light the paraffin burner that keep a little copper gluepot heated 
during the day, a pot that was used for repairing and renewing cloths 
and felts on actions etc. The foreman of the workshop and the man I was 
trained by, when working from that gluepot always chiselled a wedge on 
the end of a hammer shank blank to dip into the glue to apply to the 
work at hand. He taught me to always work from a little hole made in the 
skinned surface of the glue which should not be totally disturbed in 
order to retain the heat in the glue, and once he had applied the small 
amount of glue needed, he would put the hammer shank in his mouth 
sucking off the residue glue and to keep the stick warm for the next dip 
in the gluepot.

He made old age bless him and is still remembered.

M

-- 
www.michaeljohnsonharpsichords.co.uk


       
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