Ivory/ plastic keytop removal

[RustRazor@AOL.COM]

I usually use a heat gun on plastic and ivory.  I have never had trouble with 
removing plastic this way but sometimes ivory is difficult.  Be careful on 
plastic...too much heat can melt it making it rather hard to peel off.  Way 
too much heat and the keytop will spontaneously burst into flame which is 
what happened to me the first time I tried this.

For the stubborn ivories, an iron will usually work, the descriptions of how 
to do this were sufficiently described in previous posts.

Sometimes when the iron doesn't work I've actually put each key in a vice, 
keytop facing upward, and run a breakaway utility razor under the top, 
shearing the top off.  It;s kind of a pain but with a little care and going 
in the proper direction you can get away with minimum damage to the ivories, 
if you're into collecting them, and minimum removal of wood from the key.

I have also heard that a good planer will work as well, if you're not 
interested in saving ivories.  A good planer can remove the ivory and leave 
the glue.

Some folks like to plane the key down a little because new plastic keytops 
are thicker than ivories.  If the keys are originally levelled high the 
thicker keytops can actually hang on the nameboard or fallboard, so be aware.


Matt Wynne, 
Suffolk, NY Chapter