Plastic Lakk

[Richard Brekne]

Accordign to the owners the piano was dropped. There are two versions of
this.... one it was dropped nearly flat on its back and went KA--BANG...  and
then slid on some ice. The second one is that the piano got dropped off the
truck and landed mostly on one lower side edge. This second fits the visual
damage best. No signs of this being on its back and sliding at all.

I get the feeling that the lakk cracking is probably not related to this
incident, that it was due to freezing. It was indeed ship truck from a Town
quite a bit north of here, and in the middle of the coldest part of the winter.

I will call the family later tonite and double check a few things

By the way... this is clear finish.. high gloss.

Farrell wrote:

> Richard, when you say "shock", do you mean like a blow with a hammer or
> dropping, etc.? If so, I suspect you may be looking at a potential
> combination of factors that you will be unlikely to distinguish among. I
> agree fully with what Paul McCloud wrote. Assuming there was some cold
> storage involved, perhaps the cold temps. alone, or combined with moving
> into a warm interior environment might be enough to make it crack, but also,
> when the piano was real cold, it would also be more susceptible to damage
> from a "shock" - as in being hit or bumped.
>
> I agree with Newton also. I see he also uses the term "shock" damage.
> Exactly what do you mean by "shock" damage. From a bump? Or something like
> "cold shock" - going from one temperature extreme to another.
>
> Also, like Newton said, if the poly is attached firmly to the wood, you can
> enlarge the cracks and fill with epoxy (I have only used West System - it is
> great for this - with an appropriate filler), level, sand, etc. But you are
> basically talking about fairing the poly with epoxy and then refinishing
> with your choice of topcoats (this I have done in many marine applications,
> but have not done to pianos - same stuff though).  Polyester and/or epoxy
> both make an excellent base surface to put any kind of painted finish on -
> polyester, lacquer, polyurethane, marine coatings, house paint, water
> colors, or just spray a little grey primer over the repaired areas, sand
> lightly, and it can look just like my '62 Dodge Dart I had in high school!
>
> Terry Farrell
> Piano Tuning & Service
> Tampa, Florida
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Brekne" <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 3:05 AM
> Subject: Re: Plastic Lakk
>
> > So do you share the opinions of many of the others so far that this is
> > probaby not due to shock, but rather to cold storage / poor transportation
> > proceedures ?
> >
> > Paul McCloud wrote:
> >
> > > I do a lot of polyester work, and this sounds like poly.  I seriously
> > > doubt if the damage could be repaired, assuming that it is indeed poly.
> > > There is no way to amalgamate polyester that is cured.  I have had very
> > > limited success using super glue dripped into cracks, most often it
> > > doesn't wick into the cracks.
> > >     There is a company in Orange County, Esquire Piano that claims they
> > > can do an invisible polyester repair.  Some day I'll get up there and
> > > see if this really can be done without refinishing.  If there's anybody
> > > who can do CLEAR polyester repair of cracks over wood grain, invisibly,
> > > without stripping, I'd like to know how you do it.
> > > Thanks
> > >     Paul McCloud
> > >     San Diego
> > >
> > > --
> > > mailto:pmc333@earthlink.net
> >
> > --
> > Richard Brekne
> > RPT, N.P.T.F.
> > Bergen, Norway
> > mailto:Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no
> >
> >
> >

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no