Piano Update #2

[kv0925]

Aside from gluing a couple of broken keytops back on (above--not perfect, especially since I'm still missing one, but good enough until I want to replace all 52 white keys!), the order of business this weekend was trying to strip off some of the old finish. One of my big concerns was the fact that I'll need to do the work on the actual cabinet inside the house, so we found some stripper that doesn't have toxic fumes. Cost a little more, of course, but not bad, and it does seem to work well. To start out, though, I'm working on some smaller pieces that I can do in the garage--the pedal lyre, key slip, and fallboard.



I'd already scraped a lot of the paint off the pedal lyre. It's apparent that whoever painted the thing just did so over the original varnish, which is a good thing. if they'd stripped it first and then painted, it would be impossible to get it down to the bare wood without a lot of sanding. This way, I should just be able to use the stripper and get it down to the wood. Then a little steel wool and touch-up sanding where needed, maybe some wood filler here and there, and I should be able to just stain and/or tung oil it and all will be well. It would be nice if I can just use tung oil--that's just rubbed in, so less of a mess. Here's hoping, anyway!


Noticed another serial number stamp on back of the fallboard. Again, it's just nice to see that everything is original!


Pedal lyre. Here all the paint was scraped off the flat part, and I've applied thinner to the carved deco work and the rest--you can see the varnish liquefying. Gooey!


It's recommended to do things in manageable chunks, and I though a side-by-side would be neat, so here I've applied stripper to half of the fallboard.


Stripper hard at work!


Pedal lyre after stripping. A little better, don't you think? Well, just wait for this...




I'm telling you, whoever painted this piano was insane. Look how gorgeous the original wood is! And they went and covered it up with icky, dingy, fake wood-grainy paint. Crazy!

And that's where we are currently. This week I'll finish up the fallboard--I need to be especially careful with the other side, because I really wonder if I might find the original Bush & Lane decal under the paint! That would be awesome. The decals are available online, but kinda pricey, and it would just be very cool to have the original decal. Stay tuned to see if I manage to salvage it!

Comments

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

Oh just paint the keys white...and the rest of the piano and yer done!

[stellawas-a.livejournal.com]

Someone actually painted a piano in different wood colors to make it look like a different type of wood?

WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE PEOPLE? I'm so confused and can't stop laughing!