'Rewooding' keys

[Bill Spurlock, RPT]

Randy Rush turned me on to a great way of repairing the sides of keys chewed out
by finger nails:
* Get some very fine light colored wood sawdust, or buy "wood flour" where
epoxies and epoxy fillers are sold, such as marine suppliers.
* Also obtain some pieces of polyethylene or Teflon at least 1/4" thick or
thicker. (Look in the yellow pages under "Plastics". Most shops have scrap
barrels with lots of useful types and sizes sold by the pound.)
* Clean any finger grease off the keys using ammonia and a Scotchbrite pad; let
dry.
* Mix the wood flour with a clear epoxy having a reasonable working time. The
consistency should be liquid enough to wet-out the key wood, not thick like
putty.
* Apply the mixture to the sides of a key, and sandwich with the polyethylene.
C-clamp lightly.

The epoxy will not adhere to the plastic, so after the epoxy has cured, the
plastic pieces will come away easily, leaving a perfectly smooth molded surface
to the sides of the keys. The filler will be similar in color to the key wood.

This method works well when the sides of the keys have "pockets" worn into them,
since there are usually un-worn areas to clamp the plastic against. This
restores the original key side profiles. If the entire key sides are worn away
(usually from careless trimming after key recovering), other methods or key
replacement are needed.

This same type of repair can also be done on broken case parts, like chunks
broken off the bottom edges of vertical piano case sides. For this, I like to
use Wood Rebuilder, a polyester filler that Webb Phillips sells. Apply some
paste wax to the finish bordering the break, so squeeze-out doesn't stick to the
finish. Then apply the filler and the plastic piece. Back it up with a thick
flat wood block and clamp securely. In five minutes you can remove the clamp,
and you'll have a perfectly smooth fill that's flush with the surrounding wood.
The filled area can then be colored and grained as with any touch-up fill.

Bill Spurlock , RPT