On 12 Jan 2006 06:18:58 -0800, "alfred" wrote:

Piano finishing scares me. It's _very_ hard to restore.

it's a european piano from the late 1800's.. shellac.

That's still no guarantee that it's shellac, or that it's only shellac.
It would tend to rule out the synthetic lacquers though.

Brown pianos could be a spirit varnish (with plant resins) rather than
shellac - especially older ones, so probably not this one. These are
somewhat like shellac to apply initially, totally different to re-finish
later. The great characteristic of shellac is that it's easily
re-dissolved by applying more solvent (the key to french polishing), the
plant resins don't dissolve easily enough. Shellac restoration
techniques will have little efffect on these, possibly a detrimental
effect. They certainly won't improve things.

If it's black, then it's likely to be based on shellac but the high
polish is obtained by really complex polishing techniques (only used on
pianos, and rarely on clocks and coffins), not just french polish.

someone mentioned paint thinner, as it doesn't melt shellac..
do you mean toulene, I mean Nitro thinner?

No, I think they mean light naptha fractions, as sold as "white spirit"
in the UK. It's a very weak solvent for anything, which makes it useful
for gentle work. If you really needed to clean the vaseline off it, then
this would be the stuff to use - however I don't see any problem with
vaseline, so I'd be inclined to leave it.

I've never use toluene with shellac, but my initial expectation is that
it would dissolve shellac - certainly not something to go slapping onto
your piano.

Vaseline is an easy contaminant to remove in any piece of high-end
re-finishing work. I'm surprised it does much for the finish other than
make it sticky and show fingerprints, but it's stable and it's not
damaging.

If this thing is worth serious money, then talk to a piano expert. I'm
no finishing expert (I don't have enough practical experience) but I'm
fairly knowledgeable. Like I said, pianos are beyond anything I know
about., particularly black ones.

OTOH, I'd dive straight into a harpsichord or virginal. I know about the
finishes on those.