<DIV>Hi Doug,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>About a year ago, I removed wax that had been vandalously dripped on a perfect set of M & H ivory keys. I'm talking all 88 keys had a thick coating of wax, even down in the cracks. I used the little brown hard rubber scrapers that my wife bought from Pampered Chef to remove the bulk of the wax. Actually, they come in handy quite often in the shop.</DIV> <DIV>Here is what they look like,</DIV> <DIV><A href="http://tinyurl.com/64odu">http://tinyurl.com/64odu</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/catalog/product.jsp?productId=241&categoryCode=FH">http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/catalog/product.jsp?productId=241&categoryCode=FH</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>A little odorless mineral spirits to slightly dampen a cloth cleaned the remaining residue off the keytops and I used razor blades to scrape the keysides. I checked on them last week, and they still look great. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There were a few dribbles of wax that leaked all the way to the front rail punchings. I was able to chip the wax off and turn the punching over and reuse them.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Have fun,</DIV> <DIV>Dave Davis, RPT</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV class="messageinfo separator"><STRONG><EM>Hubert wrote:</EM></STRONG></DIV><XMETA content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"><XMETA name="GENERATOR" content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1491"> <STYLE></STYLE> <XBODY bgColor="#ffffff"> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hi Mark-</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>I removed the keys and used the side of the knives as keytop scrapers. I do not remeber the degreaser that I used but it was commercial kitchen type. The three candles used were red Christmas decorations. I only 'froze' the white tops and black sharps. I used the cutting edges on the unfinished wood sides. I do not want to do it again. We are in agreement here. I was afraid of naptha in the sharps.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Cheers:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hubert Liverman</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Tuner/tech</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Opelika,AL.</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=bases-loaded76@sbcglobal.net href="http://us.f412.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=bases-loaded76@sbcglobal.net" target=_blank><FONT color=#003399>Mark Potter</FONT></A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="http://us.f412.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=pianotech@ptg.org" target=_blank><FONT color=#003399>Pianotech</FONT></A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 11, 2005 12:49 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Candle wax on keys, how to remove?</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>Hi Doug -</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I actually DID run into a very similar situation once, and found it easier than it looked at first glance.  Using a VERY dull blade, or a piece of hardwood tapered to a dull chisel-point, you can scrape the majority of it off fairly easily.  Then use mineral spirits to remove any residue.  The mineral spirits will make short work of any wax remaining after you scrape, and will not harm the keytops as far as I know.  You will want to remove they keys, I would guess, as it would seem very likely that there is a fair amount of wax between and under the keys.  There certainly was in my case....  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You might wanna use the odorless variety of mineral spirits, as the smell can build rather nastily.  In any case, a little ventilation would be advised, as would the use of drop cloths below the keybed!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Mark Potter<BR><BR><B><I>Doug Renz Piano Tuning / Repair <pianotuner@frontiernet.net></I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Does anyone know how to remove candle wax from keys? I went to tune a<BR>piano yesterday and the customer said, "yea, I accidentally spilled<BR>candle wax on the the keys, I've been trying to get some of it off."<BR><BR>It is a mess... about 4 octaves of the keyboard covered with wax. made<BR>for an interesting tuning! Has anyone ever removed candle wax and know<BR>how to remove it from keytops? Thanks in advanced!<BR><BR>Doug Renz<BR>Associate PTG<BR>Rochester, NY<BR>pianotuner@frontiernet.net<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>