Button repair.

[Squeaky Pete]

I have a button to fix for a friend on a rather lovely Wheatstone English.

The wooden spigot is broken and I'm not quite sure what to do.

My plan was to remove the metal cap, carefully measure the wooden bit, turn and drill a new one and a spare or two and refit.

A couple of questions though.

I thought it would have been held in place with hot glue, but it looks like it was crimped and the only way is to drill it out. Which means destroying the pattern.

It must be a very close grained timber, do I replace it with beech, boxwood, apple or what.

Or is it easier to buy a replacement?

I'm happy to plough on, but don't want to waste the time I should be spending on repairing my latest Hohner Club box.

[Frank Edgley]

There are probably buttons available from old scrapped instruments.

[d.elliott]

There are so many different variations in keys, even between a single manufacturer's models etc. I often superglue the fracture to get the geometry secure,  and then splint the fracture for strength and permanence. The keys then last for ever. You have nothing to loose, post it to me and I will fix it, I  assume all the wood is there? I will bush the key, do you still have the dampers? If you prefer give me a call and I will talk you through doing it yourself.

 

[Squeaky Pete]

Thanks for the offer. I need to fit it or get a replacement.

There was a second broken button and the the clean fractures either side of the hole meant an easy and secure repair.

However this one had been broken before and glue was already acting on the glue of a previous repair meaning there is no obvious way to join it.

I guess I could scrape back to solid timber, mix some araldite with fine dust from the sander and build up the shape.  Then at least I don't disturb the timber inside the metal.

[alex_holden]

I wouldn't attempt to glue that core back together. When you make a new one, you can measure all the dimensions you need from one of the not-broken buttons. I turn my button cores from acetal because it's fairly cheap, easy to machine, and will probably last forever. If you would prefer to use wood for originality, the ideal is something very dense and fine grained like boxwood, but I suspect the originals were just beech. I've used both beech and box for buttons, and box is much nicer. A dense fruitwood like apple or plum would probably work fine too. If you want I can post you a bit of acetal or box.

[Squeaky Pete]

I'll use some box then. I have plenty 

I'll have to drill out the remains of the core (thanks for the right term). I warmed it with a hot air gun to melt the glue and the remains would swivel in the button but wouldn't pull out, so I assume it is both crimped as the crimp line is clear, and glued as it is solid when cold.

Edited November 24, 2021 by Squeaky Pete

[d.elliott]

Given the previous repair I agree that it is best to make a new body and retain the cap.