Black Ebonies

[Joseph Garrett]

Kjell,
Very interesting. Have not heard of this one, before. I'm definately going
to try it. It looks like there are some pretty nasty chemicals in it,
however, so I'm going to procede cautiously. I'll know if the "translation"
is ok, when I give the formula to the pharmacist. :-) Thanks for the info
Regards,
Joe Garrett, R.P.T. (Oregon)
p.s.
I did print it out, so I'll have something to refer to.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kjell Sverre Fardal" <ksfardal@online.no>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 12:10 AM
Subject: Black Ebonies


> 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
>
>
>
>
>