[pianotech] 96 years of pledge

[Euphonious Thumpe]

WARNING: 
     I'm sure you know, but wear a good carbon-cartridge mask, gloves, and goggles without vents ( or with vents taped over) before doing the following. Many of us die young in this trade, from chemical-relatable maladies!
     And still do it outside, in the shade, with a breeze blowing... from a fan, if necessary. 

    Before I strip anything, I THOROUGHLY scrub the surface with a green Scotch-Brite sponge and one of those "Super-Clean" -like products. I don't use actual "Super-Clean" anymore, though, because, from the smell, I can tell Castrol recently added lye to the formula, and its smell stays in things. I've used "Purple Power", but there are other regionally available "Super-Clean" clones that are also cheaper. (Available at auto parts stores, etc..) One I've heard good things about is "Spray66", available from restaurant supply stores. It has the advantage of no purple dye, which can darken bare wood a bit. (But I've not found it in my area.)
     So I scrub everything with the pad and "Purple Power" and those little brass detail brushes, and then rinse it and dry it very quickly with paper towels and set it in the shade. I'm not much worried about warping ( except on very thin parts ) because most piano parts have finish on both sides, and I'm drying off so quickly . This pre-removes almost all, I'm sure, of the surface contaminaton BEFORE the stripping process begins: thus preventing excess silicone, and whatever else was smeared on the surface,  from "getting in the mix" and then the wood beneath.  If it is a shellac finish, these powerful soaps WILL remove some of it, giving you a stripping "head start". But, as I said, unless you use a dye-free "super-soap", it's best not to get down to bare wood. (And also to deter warping and veneer damage.) 
     Then, for stripping, I prefer that orange "safer" stripping stuff. Yes, it's more expensive. But you can slather it  it on ( in the shade!) wrap the pieces with cheap plastic dropcloths and just go away for a while. When you return, ALL the finish should be dissolved and ready to remove. So I scrape it off (I get massive pieces of cardboard-- mattress boxes and such from behind furniture stores) and then scrub, with the grain, with a brass bristle pot-brush from the grocery store. (The bristles are fine enough that they dig the goop out of the pores, but also don't damage the wod.) A few scrubbings like this, with simple denatured alcohol scrub-rinses and paper-towel wipes and the wood should look "like new". ( Note: I have a friend who pointed out that as most old pianos have simple shellac finishes, you can skip the stripper altogether and just brush on denatured alcohol, wrap in plastic and wait! I've not tried this yet, but
 'twould be great, as even the "safer" strippers are toxic and take days to dry on the cardboard pieces before it is legal to discard thyem.)
    I never sand veneer ( except to knock off "hairs" intentionally raised during the finishing process) because it is so thin. If there is a problem with uneven staining, I resolve it with a wipe of diluted Clorox. ( Or commercially available aniline dye remover --- which is chlorine bleach plus who-knows-what added.)

     Get a  good book on refinishing. If you have a  trustworthy stripper in your area, take it to them. But be aware that all their equipment will likely be silicone-contaminated, so you'll still have to scrub ( with lacquer thinner) prior to finishing to mitigate "fish-eye" problems.

Thumpe


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