ABACUS: MYSTERY OF THE BEAD
The Bead Unbaffled - An Abacus Manual

 

How to Fix a Warped Frame

Some years ago I acquired an older soroban at auction on Ebay. It's a beautiful piece and has been much used; so used in fact  that some of the holes in the beads have become slightly larger and irregular. Happily this presents no real problem. Because the beads have not been lacquered with high gloss bakelite, I love the action they give me when doing calculations. A good solid feel.

The problem with the soroban is that over the years the frame had become quite warped and didn't sit flat on my desk as I worked. This is not an uncommon trait of older soroban. Here's what I did to fix it. Although the camera picks up an amazing amount of detail, to the naked eye the work I did goes virtually unnoticed. Today the soroban sits perfectly on any flat surface and remains one of my most prized instruments.

Take a piece of soft wood and fashion it into the shape of a wedge. Glue it to the warped edge. Color it to match the frame as closely as possible.

 

 

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© July, 2009
Totton Heffelfinger   Toronto Ontario  Canada
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totton[at]idirect[dot]com