Sometimes the dragon loses.  When I restored the stack of the 1926
Mason & Hamlin I used gauze similar to the original for the gasket
between the pneumatic and the deck board.  Unfortunately this did not
make for a uniform leak-free joint.

Testing the pneumatic by holding my thumb over the port while opening
and collapsing the striker bellows revealed very noticeable variation
among the strikers.  This meant that when a soft passage was being
played, it would not represent what the roll called for -- some notes
would be softer or missing.

Finding that intolerable I decided to remove the leaky bellows, but
they would not release with ordinary pressure.  I had all but given up
thinking I would have a lot of splintered pneumatics.  But since we had
full sun I decided to find out if leaving the deck in the full sun for
a couple of hours would reduce the strength of the 1-year-old glue job.

To my surprise the pneumatics were fairly easy to remove by lifting on
the tail (small end).  I suspect a long slow motion would be the best.
Two pneumatics had slight damage -- easy to repair.  I noticed no
warping of the deck (so far).    More on this when I re-install.

Out of curiosity I used my infrared thermometer to measure the surface
temperatures.  All measured around 91 to 92.5 degrees Fahrenheit on the
various boards and fabrics.  The air temperature outdoors was 91, and
the hottest surface in the patio was 93 F.

Bill Chapman
in La Quinta (Palm Springs area), California