Roger Waring was asking about Player Piano Company's Standard Action
inside valve facings, stock no. 1117.

"Shiny side to seat" means that the shiny side of the leather goes
against the valve plate, just like the original patent leather did.
I have found these valves to seat quite tightly with no problems.
Make sure the valve is flat -- as I have found many many warped ones,
but since I assume you purchased a box of 100 you have plenty of
spares.

When replacing the collars on the stems, just barely compress the valve
with the assembly so that the valve can easily tilt on its own.  Make a
jig with a hole the size of the valve stem drilled to the proper depth
into a block of steel.  That's the only way to do it perfectly.  If
some of the collars aren't tight replace them with new ones.

Of course it goes without saying that you must polish the steel backing
washers and also the seating area of the valve plates also to remove
all corrosion.

John D. Rutoskey