Uh-oh, this week I noticed that I had rubbed through a few ribs of one of my Zinc King 703s! Not surprising if you use them like I do, but unfortunate nevertheless…
First things first: take the washboard apart and reassemble it with the backside forward, so that the rubbed through “top of the ribs” holes will become “inside of the rib holes”, if you get my meaning. The only issue with doing this is that thin brushes can get caught in the holes…
- Pull out all 4 nails.
- Clean it up if you want.
- Remove and reinsert the rubbing surface with the back as the front.
- Reassemble the washboard, tighten it up with a big enough F clamp if you have one.
- Nail it back together or, if you want, put screws in place of the nails.
Hopefully you will get a lot more mileage this way before needing more repairs.
Years later, if ever you rub through both sides you can extend the life of the board with epoxy glue.
- Pull out all 4 nails
- Remove the zinc rubbing surface and wash off whatever limestone sediment and gunk there is with fine steel wool and soap and water
- Rinse and dry
- Apply two composite epoxy glue for metal on the areas that have been rubbed through on the back side of the rubbing surface
- With the flat edge of a piece of cardboard rub the glue down just enough so that it doesn’t create a bump (otherwise it will push against the wood boards that are behind it when it’s all assembled)
- Let the glue dry overnight
- Reassemble the washboard, tighten it up with a big enough F clamp if you have one.
- Nail it back together or, if you want, put screws in place of the nails.
This does change the sound of it a bit, I would describe it as thickening it up. Personally I prefer that then letting it rub to pieces – in fact there are days when I like the board I repaired last year this way better.