Removing key fronts

[David Nereson]

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]On
Behalf Of John Delacour
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 12:49 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Removing key fronts
. . . . . . . .

If the keyboard is to be scrapped but you want the ivory, the
quickest way to get it, provided traditional glue has been used, is
to dump the keys on a large bucket of cold water for a day, as I did
last week with a couple of sets.

JD
	I've done that a couple times, and it works, but if you then just leave
the ivories on newspaper or paper towels to dry, they will curl, since the
underside is against the wet paper and stays humid, while the top is open
to the air and dries faster, unless you sit there all day and keep turning
them over, so they get equal exposure on both sides.  I've clamped them in
little stacks between wood or metal blocks, and just left them for a few
days, and that worked better, but some still had a bit of a curl to them.
	Just yesterday, I removed a set with the wet cloth and hot iron method,
and even though the top side must get way more steam than the underside,
for some reason they don't curl.
	I've tried soaking very yellow ones in hydrogen peroxide to whiten them
up, and that worked pretty well, but required several prolonged soakings.
So the next time, to speed it up, I tried Clorox, and that was too much -
they came out over-bleached and chalky.  But maybe if it were diluted
enough . . .(?)
	--David Nereson, RPT