Finishing questions

[Stéphane Collin]

Well,

when sanding by hand (no power tool) and adressing a large surface, never 
insisting on one place, and using large felted sanding blocks, this has 
proven (to me at least) to be an efficient and controlled enough method of 
recovering evenness in wood colour shade without catastrophy (and yes, I 
once made some holes in veneer, with a power sander and 60 grit paper, and 
like you, I was unhappy).  I found uptill now that no chemical only solution 
got me rid of those differences between discoloured wood by sunlight and 
well preserved stained wood.  And those places who won't accept stain can be 
terrible to adress.
However, I will try again with the mentionned products.
Please, Greg, be kind enough to let me know if any chemical solution gave 
you total satisfaction.

But then, how do you get rid of those (more than common) scratches in wood 
surface ?  Cellulose and wood powder leaves traces that are not so 
aesthetical.  Alcohol diluable colours for retouche are (to me at least) a 
real pain to use, certainly when using french polish over those.
By the way, old veneer tend to be thick enough to accept a few sanding.  I 
have a 1853 Pleyel with Mahogany veneer of not less than 4 mm thick.
But I agree, indeed, if possible, it would be better not to sand the wood, 
to preserve the material.

Best regards,

Stéphane Collin





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Newell" <gnewell@ameritech.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 2:28 PM
Subject: Re: Finishing questions


> Stéphane,
>         I have tried that before with the unfortunate result of accidently 
> sanding through the veneer. Thanks for the reply but I don't think I'll be 
> trying that again.
>
> Greg Newell
>
>