<HTML><HEAD> <META charset=US-ASCII http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; cha= rset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fffff= f"> <DIV>Garland Goodland, RPT, of the Western Carolina Chapter, asked about get= ting the yellow out. Here is his original post. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>How do I remove the yellow coloring from old ivory keytops? I have trie= d sunlight and Hydrogen Peroxide. Don Valley, RPT, let me have some 35% solu= tion H2O2 and I tried it, but to no avail. I seem to remember an article in = the Journal about this; please direct me to it if you can. Otherwise, just t= ell me what to do, since Don and I do not know at this point! Thanks! <BR>__= _____________________________________________<BR>I answered with this. </DIV= > <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>The only other method I've tried, with some limited success, is black l= ight. You can buy 4' tubes of florescent black light tubes at most hard= ware stores. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Get a 4' two tube shop light, and mount it about a foot over the k= eys. Then soak cheese cloth in H202 solution, and cover the ivories Let= it sit for a couple of days. The cheese cloth will dry out, but the H202 wi= ll absorb into the ivory, and the ultra violet rays of the black light will = lighten up the ivory. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I don't think I ever got all the yellow out, but the keys did look= a lot less yellow</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>To which Garland replied:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>Dear Wim, Thanks for the advice. What I have done so far is to sand the= keytops with 220 wet paper to even up the joints between heads and tails. T= hat got most of the yellowing off, but there is still some yellow here and t= here, which looks worse than before!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Don suggested putting a rag soaked in H2O2 over the keys, but all that = did after a day was to curl some of the tops and cause them to fall off. I w= et one side again (just water) and waited until they were flat again to put = them back on the keys. I don't really want the ivories coming off because I = have to sand again when I put them back on. But I would like to lessen the y= ellow before I polish the ivory on the buffing wheel. Buffing might remove s= ome, but I don't plan to remove significant ivory in polishing.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You say that the "black light" helps, but you also say that you have no= t been able to remove all the yellow. Maybe I will hear from some more peopl= e, or can find the <EM>Journal</EM> article.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Does anyone have a better idea, or can tell Garland which Journal the a= rticle is in.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Garland's address is <A title=mailto:garland@main.nc.us href="mailt= o:garland@main.nc.us">garland@main.nc.us</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wim </DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"= >Willem Blees, RPT<BR>Piano Technician<BR>School of Music<BR>University of A= labama</FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>