<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Rob,<div>I've done it various ways:</div><div>1) Iron on wool setting, soaked strips of packing felt cut to fit heads/tails, felt knife to pry ivory loose with. Works pretty well on ivory glued with wafers, I've never done a set without at least some breakage, especially on tails. I shortened the felt knife blade to about an inch long.</div><div>2) Dry iron, felt knife- I ended up doing this on a 1970 Kawai with one piece tops. I'm not sure what the glue was but it was impervious to steam, tops were glued directly to whited keystick. I managed to save 49, two were already damaged, I broke one.</div><div>Trying to save old ivory reminds me of a quote from Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance- </div><div>"Assembly of Japanese bicycle requires great peace of mind."</div><div> </div><div><div apple-content-edited="true">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dale Probst<br>Registered Piano Technician<br>Ward & Probst, Inc.</div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><a href="mailto:dale@wardprobst.com">dale@wardprobst.com</a><br>940.691.3682<br><br><br></div></span></span>
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<br><div><div>On Jan 7, 2012, at 2:05 PM, Rob & Helen Goodale wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">
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<div><font face="Calibri">I'm wondering about methods to safely remove old ivories
from junk pianos. I've got a junker that has ivories in reasonable
condition and I'd like to try and remove them for future re-use. Every
attempt I've made in the past has resulted in them breaking into pieces.
I've heard of techniques ranging from using a steam iron to soaking the keys,
even dampening them and placing them in a microwave. Is there a proven
sure-fire way to remove them without breaking them? Even if one breaks the
set will no longer match.</font></div>
<div><font face="Calibri"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Calibri">Rob Goodale, RPT</font></div>
<div><font face="Calibri">Las Vegas, NV</font></div></div>
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