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Has anyone turned black piano keys?

LittleMissCreative

LittleMissCreative

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Ruth
Hi,

I'm able to get my hands on some 1930' black piano keys. Has anyone made pens from these?
Is the wood ebony or just painted black?

Thanks.
 
Woody

Woody

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I would say being that old yes there is every chance they are ebony and as long as you dont overheat the wood whilst sanding you should be OK before you start look out for any cracks on all 4 sides no matter how small they are stabilize them before you start cutting or cup the bad bits off the last time I done any I got about 10 pens from a whole piano good luck and happy turning
 
LittleMissCreative

LittleMissCreative

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Ruth
Woody said:
I would say being that old yes there is every chance they are ebony and as long as you dont overheat the wood whilst sanding you should be OK before you start look out for any cracks on all 4 sides no matter how small they are stabilize them before you start cutting or cup the bad bits off the last time I done any I got about 10 pens from a whole piano good luck and happy turning
Click to expand...

I'm very new to Woodturning and know very little about wood etc. How do I go about stabilising the keys and why do I need to do this to wood?
 
Woody

Woody

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You only need to stabilize cracks in the wood with a very thin CA glue before drilling and during the turning otherwise the cracks will open right up and spoil your pen it the cracks are on the ends then just cut them off and use two keys for one pen if you need to the very first batch of pens I made with ebony all split wide open after a few days
 
Scots Bill

Scots Bill

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Oh Ruth, I sympathise with your pain, Sorry but I thought you had mistyped and meant has anyone tuned black piano keys? I was wondering what the white ones had done to offend. Are the white ones on old pianos ivory? Likely Woody will know. :thinks:
 
Bill Mooney

Bill Mooney

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The white keys that I have are timber covered with ivory veneer & the black keys are ebony but I haven't turned the ebony yet.
 
Penpal

Penpal

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The Ebony keys are too skinny for me how to identify Ivory keys easy they have swirls in them they are indeed thin veneers.

Peter.
 
P

Pierre---

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For sure you can use them. Black and white, ebony and ivory. Maybe with some glueing... Give it a try!
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