[pianotech] bead blasting wood...gently

[Douglas Gregg]

I have seen some great u-tube videos on cleaning finish off of ornate
carved mantels, etc. with no damage to the wood. There are at least
three grades of baking soda granules for auto body work for removing
paint from fiberglass bodies and metal too. I have used household
baking soda with success in cleaning old and dirty wood action parts
as an experiment. It worked well. It is not aggressive at all.
Household baking soda will not take off paint or finish very well. You
need bigger granules for that. It will clean dirty parts. I use a
simple cheap canister sand blaster that looks like a spray gun with a
pipe nozzle. . It worked fine for small stuff.

Doug Gregg
Classic Piano Doc


Message: 1
Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 22:32:45 -0400
From: "jim at grandpianosolutions.com" <jim at grandpianosolutions.com>
To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
Subject: [pianotech]  bead blasting wood...gently
Message-ID: <4FBEEF4D.6010809 at grandpianosolutions.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

<I've also heard of blasting with baking soda. Tried it? Any info on it?
Thumpe

I've got baking soda in the shop.  I was going to use it, but decided to
take a shot with the fine bead, since I already had that in the sump.

I will say that I had to also be very gentle and careful with the soda
on wood, as it is surprisingly aggressive.


Jim Ialeggio

--
Jim Ialeggio
jim at grandpianosolutions.com
(978) 425-9026
Shirley, MA