Black Ebonies

[Linda Stråhle]

Hej Kjell Sverre!!


I´ve heard that those solutions are extremely dangerous for your health. Am I right? I´m not a chemist but I wouldn´t use them. Be careful with yourself please.
But they work very good, I have tried them.

Linda/Malmo/Sweden

Kjell Sverre wrote:


> List!
> 
> After some interesting (the informations given by Bill Bremmer were of great
> interest to me...!), and some humourous responds about yellow ivory, I would
> like to ask you what you do with the black (ebony) keys!
> 
> In my workshop (est.1930) we have done this for years in the following way:
> 
> 1. Clean the ebony (soap / water)
> 
> 2. Sand them to a smooth surface (400 - paper / ev. 240 first)
> 
> 3. Apply liquid A) (recipe given below...), and let dry (30 - 60 
>    min.)
> 
> 4. Apply liquid B) (recipe given below...), and let dry (30 - 60
>    min.)
> 
> 5. Use steelwool (very fine!) and vaseline-oil to get a smooth surface.
> 
> 6. Wipe off oil with a dry cloth.
> 
> If it`s real ebony (or other woods with equivalent qualities), they should
> now have a nice black satin surface (also with a good "touch-feeling" for
> the pianist...).
> 
> 
> Liquid A):  100 gr. Anilinechloride
>                 900 gr. Water ("aqua purificata")
> 
> Liquid B):    50 gr. Coppersulfa
>                 100 gr. Potassium Dichromat
> 
>                            to be resolved (decomposed?) in
> 
>                 700 gr. Water ("aqua purificata"),
> 
>                            then added
> 
>                 150 gr. Hydrochloric acid 2 M
> 
> I hope my translations from Norwegian are correct...! (I just give the
> recipe to our local pharmacist, and he makes 1 litre of each...)
> 
> You can ev. do the following test on a piece of wood (spruce f.i.): 
> 
> Apply A):  you get a sort of yellow color.
> Apply B):         "          "         "        "
> Applyt A) + B) on the same spot: a nice, deep black color will arise!
> 
> Do you use any methods like this in the US, or is it just a Eureopean
> variant?
> 
> Just beeing curious...
> 
> Kjell Sverre
> 
> 
> Kjell Sverre Fardal, NPTF / Europiano
> ksfardal@online.no
> Kristiansand / Norway
> 
> 
>  
> 
>