[pianotech] bead blasting wood...gently

[Euphonious Thumpe]

Yeah. I realized that once I pressed "Send". (One should not check emails when fatigued.) 


Euphonious Thumpe
 

________________________________
 From: Encore Pianos <encorepianos at metrocast.net>
To: pianotech at ptg.org 
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 8:58 PM
Subject: Re: [pianotech] bead blasting wood...gently
   
Thanks, Thumpe, but I’m not trying to sandblast the whole plate, just the immediate area around the lettering.  From there, I would prime, gold, clear, and paint the letters black.
 
Will 
 
From:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Euphonious Thumpe
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 8:04 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] bead blasting wood...gently
 
You might want to reconsider. The "bare metal" under the paint is rough, porous cast iron that has been coated with stuff called 'way back when "Japanning" : I suspect some sort of coal tar derivative that filled the pores and imperfections in the rough sand-casting. (If you want to see what the plate looked like without it, turn the plate over.) Yes, you could take the plate down to that. But you'd be giving youreslf a big job smoothing it out again.
( Probably with toxic auto-body filler. ) So why bother? If you don't like the look of some letters, try improving them ( after the bronze paint has been removed ) with a little JB weld, or (the thicker) PC7 and careful sanding and filing. (Besides, I suspect that you'd find the lettering beneath the paint as bad or worse than with the paint on it.)

Thumpe 
 

________________________________

From: Encore Pianos <encorepianos at metrocast.net>; 
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>; 
Subject: Re: [pianotech] bead blasting wood...gently 
Sent: Fri, May 25, 2012 11:14:20 PM 
I have been thinking of sandblasting my next piano plate in the areas of the
lettering, doing so carefully so as to take it down to bare metal in that
area, before painting again.  I would want to do so in such a way as to
remove all the paint while minimally disturbing the iron.  The more coats of
paint you put on a plate around the lettering, the more it loses shape and
definition.  The idea is refinish the plate whilst retaining as much
definition as possible.  Do you or anyone have suggestions as to the best
material?

Will Truitt

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Douglas Gregg
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 4:58 PM
To: pianotech
Subject: [pianotech] bead blasting wood...gently

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
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