Ebony finish

[sarah at graphic-fusion.com]

Hi Mike,

Since I'm above radar at the moment, this particular thread interests me. 
That's because I have a mahogany piano that I'll be ebony-refinishing
sometime in the indefinite future in my abundant spare time.  The reason
for ebony?  It's a great piano, but it looks as though it looks like it had
been dragged from a bomb crater.  (Well, not that bad, but you get the
idea.  Let's just say it's beyond simple refinishing, even with steam,
veneer patching, etc.)

So I see your reference to your colleague using Bondo for fill and another
post referring to polyester fill (which I assume means Bondo).  Although
I've used Bondo before, I've used West System epoxy for a much broader
variety of jobs, and I've gotten very practiced at working with it for
repairing boats.  Extrapolating fromm this experience, but never having
done this on wood, I would imagine trying coarse fill (craters) with
404-thickened 105/206 epoxy, finer fill (deep scratches) with 406/105/206,
and a final skim coat (grain and small pits) with 410/105/206, with lots of
sanding before, between, and after, perhaps with a final brush coating of
unthickened 105/206, sanded afterwards.

My questions:  How does epoxy-based fill (such as I suggest) compare to
Bondo, with regard to adhesion, workability, and durability?  I know that
on cars, Bondo can eventually shrink and crack.  Can this also happen in
protected interior environments?  Also, how well do these products expand
and contract with the wood?  Does shrinkage eventually reveal underlying
defects with either of these materials?  Should I go through the trouble of
patching missing bits of veneer, or just skim over them with filler?  (Will
the patches eventually show?)

... not that I'm going to do any of this stuff tomorrow or even next month,
but since the subject came up...  ;-)

Thanks for your advice! :-)

Peace,
Sarah




Original Message:
-----------------
From: Michael Magness IFixPianos at yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:18:39 -0600
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: Ebony finish


On Dec 31, 2007 11:50 AM, Gary Fluke <gary.fluke at verizon.net> wrote:

>  I have a Mason and Hamlin console from 1957.  The walnut finish could
> stand to be done over again.  These pianos were also available in an ebony
> finish when new.  How would one apply an ebony finish to my piano?
>
>
> Gary Fluke
> Snohomish, WA
>

Walnut is a nice looking wood even by todays standards, when refinished
right. The work it would take to re-do it in ebony would certainly be as
much if not more as redoing it in it's "original" color. Everyone isn't
looking for Oak or Cherry there are those who still believe that classic
woods like walnut, pecan, even black walnut and other less used woods today
are still classics.

A friend who used to, every so often, get a blonde beater from a school or
church, would redo them in ebony simply because no one wanted blonde pianos.
Stripping a blonde piano to the point where it will accept a decent stain is
usually more trouble than it is worth because they have so much filler in
them. He would use bondo to fill the nicks and gouges, coat it with a primer
then several coats of black lacquer and 3 or 4 coats of clearcoat.

Mike
-- 
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
Michael Magness
Magness Piano Service
608-786-4404
www.IFixPianos.com
email mike at ifixpianos.com


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