One of the unseen costs of running a piano rebuilding shop is the time and expense of maintaining your tools and equipment. I hate to say it, but I have a drawer full of chisels that desperately need some love and attention. It is especially critical to maintain power tools at their optimal level of tuning and sharpness (yes, you can tune power tools). This morning I spent over an hour replacing blades and tuning up my Makita power planer/joiner. This is a wonderful tool when properly maintained, but worthless when dull and out of tune. The most common maintenance item is keeping the blades sharp. Other items include cleaning and polishing the beds of the machine, tuning infeed and out feed rollers, replacing belts and brushes, and lubrication. This morning I did everything on this list except replacing belts and brushes. The most time consuming is changing out the planer and joiner blades. I keep a freshly sharpened set on hand at all times, so that if I accidentally nick a set, I can replace them immediately. It costs about $1.00 per inch to have them sharpened. In this machine there are 2-12" blades and 2-6" blades. The satisfaction received after completing this job is being able to plane the pieces of rock hard maple for the bridge that I am working on to a mirror smooth finish. Doing high quality work requires high quality equipment in immaculate condition. Anything less is an invitation for disaster.
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