When my friends buy a new racket i really hate working with the new grommets so when i use an awl i like to enlarge the grommet holes with my awl but before i saw my old stringer use some sort of wax that he rubs on the awl before he pokes the awl into the grommet. Does anyone know what kinda of wax or substance this is? Thanks.
I don't know about your old stringer, but ones I know just use a common candle wax. They use it to make slipping the awl through the grommet easier. Chapstick works just as well. That's what I use. I'd expect you can also use Vaseline and petroleum jelly to similar effect.
Try not to use the awl if possible. Use the string mover instead. Using the awl to enlarge common grommets will bruise the string as well as the grommets.
Exactly, making the grommet hole bigger with the aid of an awl is the last resort after other less invasive methods have failed.
do you have any other suggestions? what is a string mover? isn't that a tool to help you weave? Like when i am stringing and i come to the first couple cross i can't push the string through the grommets with the mains coming diagonally accross. So i actually use a push pin because i don't even have a awl and i find that it's perfect diameter when i fully push it through. Before i resort to the push pin i am constantly trying to force it in with my pliers and i keep cutting the tip of the end to make it sharp at various angles... I think i'm to the point where if i try it once i know it won't go through. Is there some trick/method i don't know of to get the darn string through?? thanks.
Try waxed mint dental floss. Why mint? because you can use it to clean your teeth after you are done and it tast good... Get a dental floss about 20cm. Insert both end through gromment hole and pull until there is a small loop at the end. Insert the string through the loop a and pull the floss through and the string will come through with the floss. Have fun!!!
At the risk of sounding bleedingly obvious, you may want to make sure that the hole is supposed to be a shared hole before you try to cram another string through it.
Yeah, I get to try the dental floss idea too. I have used sewing threads and sewing needles before but it is just a pain. Dental floss should be easier to handle than needle and threads .
A string mover (the one that has a hook) will do it most of the time. You use the hook to pull the string near the grommet in such a way that you can visibly see a hole in the grommet where there was none before. But make sure your frame is securely mounted.
