Ink on Piano

[bases-loaded@juno.com]

Dave,

If the finish is a "filled" finish you should be able to eliminate the
ink spot.  I would start with some mineral spirits first, to see if it
may dissolve it.  It will not harm the finish.  If that doesn't work, you
will have to "rub out" the stain, starting with the least abrasive
compound that you can find and moving into more cutting abrasives only if
necessary.  Traditional finish abrasives are pumice and rottenstone used
with oil or water and a dense felt pad.  Auto shops have a multitude of
fine abrasive rubbing compounds for rubbing out tiny scratches, and they
work great.  Something every home is sure to have is some toothpaste.  It
can be used with a dampened cloth or with a WHITE scotch brite pad
moistened a bit.  If a harsh abrasive is required to remove it, proceed
with caution so as not to rub through the finish, but if it is a filled
finish, there is little likelihood of that happening unless the stain is
particularly nasty.  If the sheen of the finish was altered in this spot
by rubbing out the ink stain, use fine abrasives to bring it back up to
match the surrounding finish. 

Good luck.

Mark Potter
bases-loaded@juno.com

 
On Wed, 10 Mar 1999 23:48:39 EST PDtek@AOL.COM writes:
>
>A local dealer delivered a Yamaha P22 to a customer. Upon setting a 
>tuning
>appointment she said that when the piano arrived, there were what 
>appeard to
>her to be blue and black ball point pen marks on the light oak 
>cabinet. She
>said that after some rubbing, the blue came off but the black is still 
>there.
>
>Does anyone have a suggestion for removing this mark without damaging 
>the
>finish?
>
>Dave Bunch