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272538 David Wittner <dwittne@u...> 2021‑01‑11 Re: Scrapping a piano tomorrow
Jumping in late and perhaps a bit off topic but I've been known to salvage
(from) the occasional piano. Strip the ivory from the keys, ebony as well.
Piano tuner pointed out that it was Gabon ebony. I'll take any solid wood,
i.e., not veneer, from the carcass, if there's any, and bring the frame to
the scrap yard-- last one was 200lbs of cast iron. If you really want to
have fun there are lead counterweights in the keys that amount to several
pounds.

The ebony ends up as keys or glue ups for knife scales. Haven't used any of
the ivory yet. Wood has found its way into various projects and the scraped
metals support my tool habit! I've yet to find anything cool to do with the
strings other than line burners for turning.

Disclaimer: I only do this to pianos heading for the garbage dump, and even
then feel guilty about "killing" an instrument.

DGW

-----Original Message-----
From: OldTools  On Behalf Of James DuPrie
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2021 8:44 AM
To: Nick Jonkman 
Cc: Tools Old 
Subject: Re: [OldTools] Scrapping a piano tomorrow

can't imagine what that smelled like (sanding ivory). If its anything like
bone, I'd want to be far away.

On the other hand, I've been dreaming of a new piano with old ivory on the
keys for a looong time.... Good to know I'm not hte only one..
-James

On Sun, Jan 10, 2021 at 1:11 PM Nick Jonkman  wrote:

> Hi guys
>
> I haven't been very active lately so thought I needed to chime in.
> Quite a few years ago I designed and built a special sander for a lady
> in California. She was replacing the plastic on piano keys with
> salvaged ivory from old pianos. She actually used new keys and glued
> the old ivory to these. Since the ivory pieces were not all the same
> thickness she needed a machine that would surface sand them flat. I
> built a drum sander for her with 3 or 4 different grits of paper on it
> with dedicated slot/track for each grit where she could slide the key
> into to cross the drum. She sent me some new keys and one with salvage
> ivory on it so I could build the machine to fit. I presume she was
> happy as I never heard from her again. So yes old ivory can be reused.
>
> Nick
>
>
> On 21-01-09 5:40 PM, Kirk Eppler via OldTools wrote:
> > I'd suggest a search through the archives for any post by Todd
> > Hughes and piano in the same message.  I think he has some caveats
> > about quality of material as far as age, real ebony and ivory, etc.
> >
> > Not sure about resale value but reuse maybe.
> >
> > Kirk Eppler from the Droid
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 9, 2021, 2:11 AM yorkshireman@y... <
> > yorkshireman@y...> wrote:
> >
> >> James spots a recycling event…
> >>
> >>
> >> If ’twere me, I’d rescue them.  You will find the ivory is a
> >> veneer, and could be reused as inlay,  the ‘ebony’ may be ebonised,
> >> or the good
> stuff,
> >> either eway, it has second uses.
> >> and as John said, the main frame sections will make absolutely
> >> superb timber.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> On 9 Jan 2021, at 00:32, james bennett  wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Galoots  - ebony keys, worth my time in a resale situation?
> >>>
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