removing ebony sharps

[A440A@aol.com]

Davidl writes:

>What's the method of choice for removing ebony from the key.  Whereas I
>have generally used a chisel for taking off plastic sharps, the additional
>surface area of ebony sharps may produce some wood loss, which I would
>like to avoid.  It seems like maybe a band saw for the bulk of it followed
>by a sharp chisel might be the way to go.  Any suggestions.

Greetings, 
    A large anvil will do the trick, usually.  
    A time-honored way is to give the key a sharp rap downward with the end 
of the ebony hitting a surface.  There is a scored, hide-glue joint between 
the key top and the wood that will usually break. 
    Later accidentals may have been glued with thermo-resin or plastic glue 
that doesn't behave like this, but the pre-war keyboards all seemed to have 
use the hide and the joint can be broken cleanly with a sharp impact. 
    The weight of the anvil (or large vise), is important. It needs to be big 
and heavy enough not to absorb that initial shock wave on impact, which 
breaks the glue.  Too soft a rap can more easily break the keystick, too much 
force and you get the same result.  Somewhere in between these extremes is a 
swat that separates perfectly.  I have seen it, and done it.  The last set 
was a set from a lost piano,  I broke two keys out of 36, which created less 
damage than cutting them all off.  The the ebony was in perfect shape. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT