Reconditioning of ebony keys

[Farrell]

Yes, some ebony is more black than other. Ebony wood ranges from a brown,
much like walnut, to almost black. After stripping, I use black shoe dye - I
think Roger Jolly passed that idea on to me. Works great. After the shoe dye
dries, I hit the ebony with a coat or two of a hand-rubbed satin oil finish.
After the finish dries, your sharps are black, all grain is revealed with
the oil rubbed finish, and no yucko on the player's fingers, because you
have the finish between the dye and the finger. I am extremely happy with
the way my sharps come out. I am especially happy with the natural grain of
the wood being prominent. I don't understand why anyone would put black
paint over the naturally beautiful ebony wood.

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Erwinpiano" <Erwinpiano@email.msn.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2001 4:20 PM
Subject: Reconditioning of ebony keys


>   Hey List
>
>        In our shop we (My wife Trix actually) do a lot of ebony
> reconditioning,crud scraping and layers of paint removal.  The other day
she
> was saying " I wonder if there is a better, faster ,different way to do
this
> and suggested this post.  I(She) would be interested in any discussion on
> this topic.
>
>       We like the appearance and feel of nicely cleaned black ebony sharps
> but sometimes after all the residues are removed the sharps are not really
> black anymore.  Is some ebony naturally blacker and if not what do you all
> like to do to get them back to black without having the dye or whatever
YOU
> may use to color them come off on the piano players fingers!!!!!!  I guess
> that the Shop Queen spends at least 2 to3 hrs of finger numbing work ( and
> sometimes more) to get them clean.  Please, I know when to put on new ones
> so don't go ther please.
>
>       So is Ebony  feeling Sharp  enough to reply???????
>
>         Dale Erwin
>         Erwin Piano Restorations
>         Modesto, Calif
>
>