Ivory Keys

It seems to me I am reading Alescovito. The keys do not look like ivory at all to me. I don't see any grain and, given the age of the instrument, they seem too "perfect" to me. Furthermore, at that time, if anything, they were made in two parts.

Simone you tricked me for a few minutes!!!!! Half a Nobel Prize!!!!!

Ok 500,000 euros to you and 500,000 to me... But who pays??

And how should I know? Up until now ...we pay!!!!! 🙂

Great thesimon!!!! today with 10 of us we didn't manage to do it........

I suspected, no yellowing, tomorrow I'll ask the first black vucumprà who enters the shop to sell lighters..... for the nobel...hem, it has been transformed into advertising on pianoconcerto.it

My 12/10 are sparkling!!! For the Nobel prize, we will settle for the publicity... But only this time! Ahahaha

Let us know what the salesman says... I clicked on several photos you posted; on some it looks like ivory, on others I would say no. Who knows...

Holy cow, this photo was deceiving me, but with the powerful technological tools of pianoconcerto.it, it is evident that those grooves are not grain but scratches... Like exchanging a gunshot for a tiny spark!

Hey Simò, did you use any filters? Great!

To me, it looks like only the small plate located in front of the key (at 90°) is ivory ...I don't know what it's called! 😟 :unsure: 😟

And of course! I don't know.... I'm not at home right now, I'm responding with an iPad; when I get home, I'll do the same thing with another photo where the front plate is visible.

Don't overthink it!!!!!

This is the keyboard of a piano I just bought, it was treated with light and something I don't remember, I will ask

http://i47.tinypic.com/34pjpci.jpg

Maybe hydrogen peroxide, but I'm not sure... It could be something more specific

Sanding with fine steel wool, hydrogen peroxide (but with caution otherwise a disaster happens)... lamp or sunlight.... final polishing.

Hi everyone, I usually proceed like this to whiten ivory:

First of all, take all the keys out, then pull out the keyboard frame, fix it to the carpenter's bench, and place a wooden rod along the entire length of the keyboard, between the tips of the white and black keys, high enough to keep the keys upright and resting against the back.

I put only the white keys back in, and place a heavy iron rod at the back to keep them locked in place.

Then, 800-grit sandpaper until they are completely matte.

At this point, I take 35% hydrogen peroxide diluted 50% with water, wipe them with a clean cloth mounted on a stick and moistened with said solution, passing it over all the keys.

Theoretically, one day in the sun while always keeping the keyboard moist—meaning going out to wipe them with the cloth about every 15 minutes—makes them bright white.

Then I go back to the bench, fix them, and use sandpaper again, but this time 1200-grit, insisting a bit more (I also have to erase the grooves from the previous 800).

Once done, I polish the keys with a cotton wheel: first a hard one with fine white abrasive paste, then a softer cotton wheel for the finish, also using white paste but even finer. However, I don't use a drill; it spins too fast and burns the ivory. You need a polisher that runs at 900 RPM.

It takes a lot of patience, but the result is perfect.

Old Krauss, ivory keys. I am cleaning them with a soft pencil eraser (Staedler Mars Plastic). They don't whiten and I don't care much about that either, but they clean various stains without trauma most easily.