Polishing keytops

[C. E. Hood]

Hi Ed - thanks for the reply on bone polishing.  The hpschd crowd says bone is harder & so a bit more difficult to smooth..  I need a better file, and Bill Jurgenson says a good scraper does a good job.  One has to be able to sharpen it right, no little burrs.  He uses one far more than I.  I use a little hand belt sander turned upside down on the bench, with a special platen under the paper, forget what it's made of.  But wish I could get finer than 320 grit.  Using new 400 pieces will help - after a couple of uses it's dull.  And I need a second hard felt wheel, for a bit coarser abrasive.  The floppy buffing cloth is no use; the jeweler's rouge is the right smoothness but gets red in every flaw.  Maybe just rottenstone would do.  The wax in those sticks helps though.  Anyway, it's a slow job, one of the many in fpo making, 78 notes (well, 52 or so naturals).  No wonder so many people don't do it!  I have to fit in as many tunings as I can get to make ends meet.  Thank heavens for the working spouse, that savior of instrument makers.
    Best, Margaret




-----Original Message-----
From: A440A@aol.com
To: caut@ptg.org
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 20:24:50 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Polishing keytops


<<  bone, and it's all filed and sanded flat on a belt sander using the 
finest grit I can obtain, 230.  I then hand sand with 400 & 600 wet and dry, then 
1600micron paper.  >>

I have never gone to the 1600 grit with ivory, bone may need it, I dunno.  

   I file them flat with a piece of 220 wet or dry taped to a glass plate and 
lubed with alcohol. It takes about 10 strokes to get the entire keytop flat.  
Then I go to the 400 and 600 with the same procedure, after which it takes no 
more than 5 or 10 seconds on the hard felt wheel to get them as far as ivory 
will polish.  I turn it around 450 rpm and am careful not to generate too much 
heat.  
   It is also worth the time to touch the wheel with that block of abrasive 
after every key.  
good luck,  
Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.o
ano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
 <A HREF="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/399/six_degrees_of_tonality.html">
MP3.com: Six Degrees of Tonality</A>
_______________________________________________
caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives