This topic was already covered somewhat in an earlier post (click here to revisit), but at least I will reoffer the salient points with updates where necessary, and some images.

First the boards must be joined by means of a hinge which is strong and flexible.
I followed the general idea of Bruce Newman’s method, seen here

Once hinged, time to recover.
Your cloth of choice, with appropriate adhesive, and sharp scissors are the order of the day.
I was fortunate to be able to get traditional thin rubberized cotton cloth, which was of course mounted with hide glue. The future availability of this cloth is in question, at the time of this publication.

As with other operations, it is a matter of getting the glue exactly where you need it, and avoiding it where you do not, using just the right amount. Experience will show you the way.

If you have done good work, the cloth (and the glue joint) will form an airtight seal around the perimeter of the pneumatic. It is still advisable to renew the sealer on the top face of the moveable board, and the exposed “overhang” section of the stationary board. Some rebuilders choose to seal the insides of the boards, before recovering.
I chose to do it last, after the hangers had been reattached. As Bruce Newman put it, this way also provides extra “insurance” around the glue joint, especially at the corners of the boards where it can be a little tricky. Obviously, we do not want to get shellac sealant on the newly applied cloth, so work carefully!

And so too with previous operations, uniformity is very much desired to assure consistent performance. If your first few attempts are not great (as mine were), take them apart and redo them. You will be happier in the long run. The pneumatics (along with the other bellows in the motor and pump) are under constant repetitive use, so attention to detail is paramount. Take the time to get it right!

Test your work by closing each pneumatic, plugging the hole and trying to pull open, you should feel stiff resistance to moderate pressure (admittedly, it is awkward to do this step).
If all your pneumatics are tight, onward to the next phase.

Once the boards have been removed from the decks, there are several operations to prepare them for rebuilding the pneumatics – this assumes you are reusing the old boards, as I did.

The old cloth must be removed from the boards. There are “dry” and “wet” options.
Dry involves using a belt sander or manual scraping. Wet involves submersing the boards in simmering water for a short time, until the glue dissolves. Still some others advocate putting the boards in a microwave oven to destroy the glue joint, without scorching the wood.

Each method has its advantages; I opted for the wet method which ensured that the cloth came off with very little manual effort and with zero loss of wood surface. The disadvantage is that this method is rather messy. A critical caveat with using water with wood boards is that the boards must be placed to dry in such a way that the air reaches as much of the surface area as possible.
If the wet boards are placed flat on one side, they will cup or warp, and potentially ruin them for reuse.

Here is what I came up with, using a kitchen grilling rack to hold the boards nearly upright so that the majority of the surface is exposed and the faces dry at an equal rate.

Once clean and dry, the boards must be repaired. In my case there were a fair subset which were cracked along the long grain when they were pried off the deck. These cracks must be repaired with glue to restore the structural integrity of the boards. It does not have to be fancy, just effective. I had a box of binder clamps on hand from the office supply store which served well.

Finally, the boards must be surfaced. Since I used the water method, everything came out rather clean in the end, however I did want to make sure the face of the stationary board was quite smooth in order to form a good joint back onto the deck. And of course the repaired boards may have had residual glue on them as well, so a very light, even and quick pass on the belt sander took care of this nicely. Don’t overdo it with the belt sander!
Once boards are all prepped, it’s time to turn them back into pneumatics!

Cleaning and repairing decks

After all the boards have come off, examine each deck and determine what work is needed to clean it up.

In a best case scenario, the deck board surface just needs a light sanding, to take down the grain and smooth out any minor high spots. You should not need to sand enough to degrade the scribe lines indicating the positions of the pneumatics.

If, in the course of removing pneumatics, you gouged or otherwise damaged the surface, you will have to repair as best as can be done. Minor voids can be filled with hide glue when the pneumatic is set down; moderate damage will need to be repaired. If you have numbered your boards, and if large splinters remained attached to the pneumatic boards, it should be possible to steam off these splinters then reglue them to their original positions on the deck board.
This is all quite tedious, so best prevented in the first place, by careful removal.

If you know there will be a good amount of time elapsing before you will be regluing pneumatics (as was the case with me), it is a good idea to number each spot in pencil, to make the reassembly more smooth.

Now is also a good time to renew the sealer inside the channels of the decks.
Thick sealing shellac is the traditional choice and will ensure each channel is independently airtight, which is a must for a well functioning action.

Finally, the front edge of each deck (which connects to the secondary valve board) probably has a gasket in place.
Remove the gasket, surface the deck edge as necessary.
Measure and cut new gaskets, but it’s better to not apply them until after the pneumatics have been first been glued down, to reduce the chance of getting glue on the new gaskets.

With the lift rods and fingers detached, it should now be easier to see how the decks are attached to one another, and work from there to separate them. In the case of my action there are 3 tiers, with the bottom and top decks screwed to the middle, as well as having metal brackets which support the 3 tiers together on the front face.

Here is a bullet pointed list of operations, which I developed for this process:

• Check tightness of larger block screws, before removal
• Measure span and overhang of striker pneumatics (if not already done)
• Number pneumatics (mark or stamp on bottom, with system of choice)
• Separate decks, set support blocks and screws aside (clearly identify number and orientation of each deck and block!)
• Slit open pneumatics and fold back; number both boards inside (with the inside number of the moveable board visible through the hole of the stationary board, ideally)
• Remove moveable boards and excess cloth and hinge material from stationary board
• Remove metal hangers or wood fingers from moveable board, set aside and keep in order if possible!
• Remove the stationary boards from their decks

Most of the operations on the above list are tedious but straightforward.
The more organized and methodical you are, the more you will thank yourself later.

If the boards have metal hangers, these are normally attached with 2 screws and reinforced with thick shellac. After removing the screws they should come free with a sharp twist.
If there are hardwood fingers on the boards, exercise caution but the principle is the same.
If the board and finger are integrated, you will have to work around them as you rebuild.

Removing boards from the pneumatic decks can be an exercise in drudgery and frustration, especially the first time you do it. Different rebuilders take different approaches, and the decision is also informed by whether you plan on keeping the original boards, or not.
In my case I did, so I had to be quite patient and persistent in getting the boards off with as little damage as possible to them or the decks.

The redoubtable John Tuttle has a video on this topic, which may provide some tips:

The main thing, before getting started, is to index the board positions on the deck, so the boards go back exactly where they came from – this is important!

To repeat, getting the boards to come off relatively cleanly can be a challenge, particularly if they are not original and a synthetic glue was used. Try using different tools and changing your technique and angle of attack, to see what works best.

Once the removal is all done, it’s time to survey the damage and proceed accordingly.

The foundation of the stack is the assembly of pneumatic decks and striking fingers.
As previously mentioned, this assembly can be separated as a whole from the secondary valve chest, and then broken down into its constituent components.

While this series of operations is not rocket surgery it is surely among the longest and dirtiest jobs of the entire restoration: you have a lot of work ahead of you!

Before starting the teardown in earnest, it’s a good idea to take photographs from different angles and different distances, to document how the parts looked before you took them all apart.
And a reminder to make note of key measurements such as span and overhang of the striker pneumatics, the average position of the leather nuts on the striker finger lift rods, and indexing all support blocks (position/orientation) before removing them from the decks.

The first order of business is to disengage and remove the striker finger lift rods from the pneumatic hangers, or whatever similar arrangement is necessary in your particular action.

This usually involves removing the lower leather nut from the threaded lift rod, to then free it from the metal hanger or wood finger. If the nuts are extremely old, they may be crushed with pliers. If they are moderately old, you should be able to back them off with a simple custom tool that can be made with thin metal tube stock. John Tuttle has instructions here, and this is how my version came out:

Since you are in the teardown stage, there is not an enormous amount of care needed to remove the nuts. By contrast, when it comes time to replace new nuts on your finished pneumatic decks, extreme care must be taken!

But let us not get ahead of ourselves, for now just get them off as best as can. If corrosion has set in at the joint of the nut and rod, you will likely need pliers to break the joint and get them started.

Once that is done, and the rods are disconnected, if it is possible to do so, disconnect the rods from the striker fingers, and store them, keeping them in order if possible. A sheet of boxboard will suffice. They can be cleaned and polished later.

Turn your attention to the striker fingers. Number them, make note of any damage or stripped screw holes in the deck, as well as the condition of the bushings, and then remove them.
If the fingers have a glue joint to the deck underneath, a firm but careful blow with a block of the same thickness should free them with minimal damage.

Set aside the fingers and screws, the screws do not really need to be kept in order, as they are all theoretically the same. Like the rods, the fingers will need a good cleaning and lubrication before remounting.

Finally, if there is a finger rest rail along the top of the pneumatics, make note of measurements and orientation; index it if necessary, then remove it from the deck. Be aware that there may be screws hidden under the layer of felt atop the rail. Remove the felt but make note of the thickness of this material, as it will save much trouble to duplicate it as closely as possible.