Burning Toe-board Pipe Holes

[Don P.]

Is there a more modern equivalent of burning toe-board pipe holes?

What happens if you don't burn them?

[Jay999]

Hi Don. The practice of burning toe counters and holes is to seal the wood of the toe board from picking up moisture and cracking, or splitting. When you have 61 holes drilled in a solid piece of wood, that's enough to make the plank of wood pick up enough moisture to make it swell. If you don't know how to proceed with this, there are several different techniques that will render the same result.

Ideally, you will have several counter boring bits that will: drill your toe hole and counter sink the top in the same operation. Heating up the bit before boring will ensure a fast boring operation. However, if you are a home, hobby, or small shop builder, you probably don't have these rather expensive boring bits.

You can essentially do the same job by having an extra set of drill bits on hand....one set to bore the holes, another set to heat with a torch and insert into the holes once you've finished boring. Also, two sets of counter sinks...one to do the counters, and the other set to heat, again, with a torch, and burn the counters.

There are other ways, which even some professional builders embrace. You bore the toe holes and the counter sinks. Then with fairly fine paint brushes, you load the brushes with black, high gloss lacquer, and paint all the bored holes on the inside, and all the counter sinks. This will do an ok job as far as sealing the wood from moisture.

Equally as important as sealing toe holes and counter bores, is to begin your toe boards by applying a lacquer sealer on the entire board, top, sides, bottom, and ends. This will greatly render a stable chest top that will only move slightly with a humidity change.

[Don P.]

Jay,

Excellent information, and well articulated! Thank you very much. I'm passing along to my organ building brother.

Don P.

[Havoc]

Actuallya reason to burn the holes was to remove any wood splinters left after drilling. It makes sure the wood is smooth and there isn't any debris left that can make the seating of the pipe leak air. With an oak windchest it also prevents agressive oils of the oak to come into contact with the pipe.

[Don Furr]

Most of the new chests I've seen do NOT have the burned toe holes. As a matter of fact I haven't seen that in years.

[soubasse32]

Schoenstein does do this in their new installations.

[Jay999]

Hi Havoc. Good additional points! I am passing on what I was taught, and practice in my own work. I use forstner bits to do all my boring. These leave a fairly clean surface inside. I never have given any thought to the fact that I am also getting rid of the wood wiskers left behind by boring from both sides of the holes. But now that you mention it, that's what is also happening when I burn the holes out. I have steel rods that I insert into the toe holes, which are heated with a gas burner. I do my counter sinks with huge single facet counter sinking bits. I pre-heat these, and the friction from counter boring continues to keep them hot. They tend to do as much burning ascutting.

The moisture situation I first addressed: In our climate, here in Atlanta, I have seen chest tops split and crack from moisture absorption. Granted, this was ina couple of organs that are known as cheap builders. Two years ago, during an unusual rainy season, I even had an Austin chest top foul it's stop action, because of swelling. And Austins are built to take that kind of punishment without affecting them. Another fine organ I take care of in South Alabama, had the side wall of a chest to split from so much swelling. Upon opening it up, the evidence was clear...the inside of the chest was totally void of any sealant. An interesting observation ofsome of our tracker instruments: The chest tops and the toeboards swell so much that the sliders seize up. In looking at those instruments, (and I have three of the same builder that I take care of), the chest top and the toe board is sealed with some sort of varnish, or perhaps lacquer; But the chest holes and the toeboard holes are naked wood. So, I'm a firm believer of sealing all exposed wood.

Very interesting point you made about oak secretions creeping onto pipe toes. Are you aware of the "organ pipe cancer" (as it is called by the Germans), occuring in old organs throughout Europe? I read a paper several years ago, on this big mystery that was happening to practically all of the old organs. Themetal pipes were "rotting"and disintegrating. Turns out that it is being caused by pipes breathing the air of all that Oak chestwork. And of course, we've all been taught about how wonderful those old oak chests were; that the oak is why the chest work continues to hold up, even after centuries of use!

Ah well, as an organbuilding friend of mine once said..."it's good to throw away an organ every 100 years. It keeps us in business!"

[mpsnknox]

Only certain woods require that the toe holes be burned. Sugar Pine, the wood of choice for most of the 19th and 20th century, had a tendency to leak resin after it was drilled and shellaced. This lead to a chemical reaction with the pipe metal causingthe pipes to deteriorate or stick to the toe board.Burning the toe hole sealed the wood and prevented this from happening.

Wood like poplaror hard composite plywoods (most commonly used today)do not have this problem... thus no burned toe holes.

[KleinErzahler]

* *Interesting, come to think of it I've seen those glossy, black toe-holes before - who did it? Moller?

* ** *- Nate

[mpsnknox]

Virtually all of the big boys in the 20th Cen did.