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Re: Building up a key

Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-10-02 15:12

I hear people banging on about 'heating the key up before bending it' - when pressed for how much heat, they think merely rubbing the key between your fingers to generate some warmth is enough. Not even warming the key up with a match, lighter or small gas torch is enough as that won't have any effect on the metal - only warming it up a bit, but not doing anything to soften the metal. You need to heat the key up to red/orange hot to soften it but that will destroy the key corks, the pads, the plating and the hard solder joints.

All woodwind keywork has already been softened during the time it was hard soldered, so it's already soft enough to bend at room temperature. It's not as though you're putting anything near right angle bends in the keywork, only a few degrees to make things more comfortable.

But if you're bending near key barrels, be careful as they may have dry solder joints where the key barrel is soldered into the key arm and the key can come away or break off at that point.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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Building up a key new

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2015-10-01 04:37