getting the yellow out.

llafargue llafargue@charter.net
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 22:35:03 -0500


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Garland there is a Journal article on this.  Search on CD ROM.  You need
much stronger % of H2O2 and a true UV bulb, not black light.  The % of
H202 is about 20% and will turn your skin white in a second and rot wood
on your bench if it ever leaks out of the bottle.  Ask me how I know.
Cheese cloth is spread over the ivory to keep it wet longer and evenly
and the stuff is misted on every few hours.  It will warp and turn the
ivory to powder if you overdo it.  Be extremely conservative.  
 
 
Lance Lafargue, RPT
LAFARGUE PIANOS
New Orleans Chapter, PTG
985.72P.IANO
llafargue@charter.net
 
-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Wimblees@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 1:17 PM
To: caut@ptg.org
Subject: getting the yellow out. 
 
Garland Goodland, RPT, of the Western Carolina Chapter, asked about
getting the yellow out. Here is his original post. 
 
How do I remove the yellow coloring from old ivory keytops? I have tried
sunlight and Hydrogen Peroxide. Don Valley, RPT, let me have some 35%
solution H2O2 and I tried it, but to no avail. I seem to remember an
article in the Journal about this; please direct me to it if you can.
Otherwise, just tell me what to do, since Don and I do not know at this
point! Thanks! 
_______________________________________________
I answered with this. 
 
The only other method I've tried, with some limited success, is black
light. You can buy 4' tubes of florescent black light tubes at most
hardware stores. 
 
Get a 4' two tube shop light, and mount it about a foot over the keys.
Then soak cheese cloth in H202 solution, and cover the ivories Let it
sit for a couple of days. The cheese cloth will dry out, but the H202
will absorb into the ivory, and the ultra violet rays of the black light
will lighten up the ivory. 
 
I don't think I ever got all the yellow out, but the keys did look a lot
less yellow
 
 
To which Garland replied:
 
Dear Wim, Thanks for the advice. What I have done so far is to sand the
keytops with 220 wet paper to even up the joints between heads and
tails. That got most of the yellowing off, but there is still some
yellow here and there, which looks worse than before!
 
Don suggested putting a rag soaked in H2O2 over the keys, but all that
did after a day was to curl some of the tops and cause them to fall off.
I wet one side again (just water) and waited until they were flat again
to put them back on the keys. I don't really want the ivories coming off
because I have to sand again when I put them back on. But I would like
to lessen the yellow before I polish the ivory on the buffing wheel.
Buffing might remove some, but I don't plan to remove significant ivory
in polishing.
 
You say that the "black light" helps, but you also say that you have not
been able to remove all the yellow. Maybe I will hear from some more
people, or can find the Journal article.
 
 
Does anyone have a better idea, or can tell Garland which Journal the
article is in.
 
Garland's address is garland@main.nc.us
 
Wim 
Willem Blees, RPT
Piano Technician
School of Music
University of Alabama

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