I am attempting to rebush and repin several whippen flanges on a 1942 Steinway B. I know that it is important to rip the felt into strips for a better joint. However, I find it quite difficult to rip strips that are consistently uniform in width (the width that I am trying to achieve is equal to the circumference of a .104" hole). Is there a way to do this and what thickness cloth should I use for a .104" diameter hole and a #19 pin?

Thank-you.

If it will not tear straight in one direction try another or hold a straight edge on the felt to help keep on track - score it and or clamp it if all else fails. If the parts are not new then you will probably be using a pin size larger than 19.
As for numbeers - hole diameter minus pin diameter divide by 2 should get a cloth that is close enough.
You should have a supply of thin, med and thick on hand.

having a bit more cloth in there allows one to ream it down to size. better too much than not enough

Thin cloth is usually easiest to work with in action centers. The #19 pin might be an issue if using the original flanges - it's no good fitting the pins to new bushings if it's loose in the flange!

.8mm cloth is the norm. You could try 1mm cloth.

To tear straight, start the end by clipping with scissors or a knife, then tear the cloth near the edge and throw this waste strip away. Start the next cut at the correct width, then tear it - the sides should be parallel now.

At first, make the strip a little wider than you think it should be. Test pull it through the hole, and if it's too tight to go through strip off a thread at a time to get it down to the right width.

I make a slit in the edge of the cloth and tear it for one edge, as Don says. Then I make the next slit three times the diameter of the hole for the next edge. The resulting strip is usually the correct size.

To facilitate getting it through the hole,, I coat the last 3/4" of one end with Elmer's School Glue Gel, fold it in half, and tape it down until the glue sets. Then I trim the folded end with scissors until it will fit easily through the hole.

I buy the cloth one foot long by the full 54 inches, and tear it along the length. Foot long strips are reasonable to work with. If you make a mistake, or if it tears, you have not lost much.

Where can I get .8mm flange bushing cloth? My usual supplier only carries .050 inch (about 1mm). The strips from Renner are just as thick. By the time I work either down to a size that works well, by removing threads and working it thru the Renner tool, it looks pretty raggedy, not to mention it being time consuming. I have seen .8mm action cloth advertised, but the action cloths I have seem very different than flange bushing cloth and so I have not gotten any .8mm action cloth to try. I don’t think it would work well for flange bushings.

I have never heard of 0.8 mm bushing cloth either. I have 0.9 mm, but I always thought that Renner uses a thicker cloth, around 1.2 mm for flange bushings.


I would not use anything but a good quality bushing cloth for flange bushings. The weave on action cloth, even if you can find the right thickness, is too loose.

Thank you, Jurgen. If I can't find a US supplier, you may be hearing from me.

Pianotek carries 0.85 mm cloth.

Thanks, BDB. I sent for the catalogue this morning. Is that the thickness that you use?

Remember that with cloth, leather and felt, the thicknesses are always nominal. There is always an variance of +/- so-and-so much. It is a bit of a joke to start measuring bushing cloth in hundredths of a mm. (One thousandths of an inch is 2.5 hundredths of a mm - one hundreths of a mm is 0.4 thousandths of an inch. This type of accuracy can perhaps be achieved in a specialty machine shop, but not on a cloth weaving loom!))

Usually bushing cloth has a tolerance of about +/- 0.4 mm.

It frays as you pull it. That's standard.
Get enough cloth in the hole. Some glue is needed, a drop, and push an 18 pin in to size the hole. When dry, pull the pin and trim the cloth. Push a 19 pin in and put a drop of 20% water and the rest some clean alcohol. (not isopropl, it has perfumes and stuff in it) This will swell the felt up, packing it, and then when it shrinks, it is the right size. If not, you need a set of the Mannino reamers. They are the best.