[pianotech] finish question

[David Love]

Most regular furniture is done in open grain finish where you can still see
the pores of the wood.  If they look around their living room or dining room
they will probably see an example of open grain finishing.  Closed grain
seals the grain so you can finish it to mirror like quality if you want
(though I prefer a rubbed satin finish--as opposed to a sprayed satin
finish).  It might be hard to find pictures.  The one great advantage of
closed grain, and especially rubbed finishes (you might tell them), is that
they are much easier to repair and match the sheen.  With open grain it's
very difficult to match grain patterns and/or keep the repaired area from
filling in and changing the sheen.  Also, repairs generally are more
difficult to make with open grain for example if you have to patch an area,
grain match and then finish.  For those reasons I rarely choose open grain
finishes on pianos and don't recommend them to my customers even though they
are a bit cheaper.  In the long run the closed grain finish will look
better, hold up better and repair more easily.  

David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Greg Newell
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 7:44 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] finish question

Does anyone have pictures (digital) of the difference between open grained
finish and closed grain finish. I’d like to email some to my customer to
show the difference. Thanks! 

Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Forté
www.gregspianoforte.com
216-226-3791 (office)
216-470-8634 (mobile)