CA glue + Elmers for Ivories

[Susan Kline]

At 03:59 PM 8/23/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>"You couldn't get them off with Blasting Powder"? Actually Joe, based
>on your comments, I'd be inclined to try this method.   8^)
>
>Anyone care to write up exactly how they have used a CA/wood glue
>combination to re-glue real ivories? Sounds like it could be a good
>field repair; or at least, better than what I have been using.
>
>Kent

They do stick, Kent ... but with a reasonably good fit, so will the
plain CA.

I've been known, when the bare key has gotten black and filthy, to
scrub it off with a damp rag, then (after dry fitting, of course)
I put some dots of CA onto the back of the ivory, spread it around
with a small screwdriver, pick it up by the edges, trying (usually
unsuccessfully) to keep the extra glue off my fingers, and put it
in place, starting with the seam end and pressing it on. You have to
get the seam very cleaned out, of course, and the ivory very clean
on the surface where it will make the seam. The residual dampness
from scrubbing the dirt off the key sets up the CA, if anything,
too quickly, so you have to be careful to get it lined up right
the first time.

Usually the CA sets up right away if the old wafer is still there,
because the wafer has been soaked in hide glue, and the CA likes
organic materials. Ivory is also an organic material, of course.

I have some really crappy salvaged ivory on hand. Just for Joe <grin>
maybe I'll try gluing it on scrap keysticks, and then see if I can find a
way to get it off intact.

This does corroborate my feeling that the CA/Elmer's bond is tougher
than just the CA lone, doesn't it? Only in this case, that's not a
desirable trait.

On the other hand, most of the pianos where I'm gluing salvaged or mismatched
ivory on to replace long-gone originals one doesn't really think that someone
is going to go through another cycle with them. Most of them are pretty
well the bottom of the barrel, or I would be doing a new set of keytops,
and salvaging what's left of the originals myself (sometimes hardly 
anything worth
reusing, but I save every scrap, even the broken pieces.)

Susan