John, All good tips and observations, without malice, I'm sure. It's great to get extra information and experienced comment to add to our "toolbox" of information. > The prior sanding of the ivories was quite unnecessary. The job > could have been done with just peroxide (the cream, as I said, is > more convenient and labour-saving) and the ivory polished afterwards. > This way you lose no thickness of ivory. A few months ago I bleached > a set that was far worse than this Steingraeber without needing to do > any sanding. I don't use a buffing wheel to polish the ivory either > since that abrades the softer "summer growth" more than the harder > parts and it is always detectable. After bleaching I remove any > scratches with P800 - 1200 wet-n-dry and then polish with chalk and > alcohol on a hard block covered with white sheep leather. It's > almost as quick and leaves a glass-like surface. > > I found his way of removing the chase bushings painfully slow and > inefficient. All he needed to do was soak them and leave them for a > bit before pulling them out clean with small flat-nose pliers. No > chisels (I noticed his knife was terribly blunt -- cfr. our Moroccan > turner's perfect chisel) no files. His glue was also overcooked and > sticky.
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