Harvesting a piano

J

JohnnyMayhem

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Aug 6, 2006
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Ok I have this opportunity to pick up a vintage upright piano for free. I have no use for it, but it's old and with most old pianos that don't get taken care of, they eventually become worthless. So. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to go and pull the piano apart and try to use the ivory and ebony keys for handle scales.

It reminded me of an old article in either blade, knifes illustrated, or the old fighting knives magazine in regards to doing a set of ivory scales using ivory pieces, black fiber board and black epoxy.

So I was wondering really, if this is a good idea/bad idea?
 
Those older pianos can weight up to 1000 lbs from all that old iron inside. Inspect the keys and make sure they're workable, meaning you could reshape them and turn them into handles. You don't want to put all that effort into hauling that heavy piano to find out that the keys are to far gone to work with.

Also, remember that a piano has 88 black and white keys. 52 white, 36 black. Is that enough handle material to justify hauling and trashing the piano?

A few things to think about.
 
It an excellent idea. If the key surfaces are ivory as you suspect, there are many uses for them in knife handles.

The glue that holds them on is usually pretty well past its prime and the keys come off easily. I picked up 20 of them a while back and I have been using them as spacers. Let us know if you get them together.
 
Remember also that on most pianos, even if they have ivory, it may just be a thin veneer over wood.
 
Well it's also a great reason to destroy a piano. (I hated pianos as a kid)
I was also thinking doing up some scales for my emerson as well.
 
Well, usually the ivory is less than 1/16" thick on them. Great for mini's, guard spacers, guitar picks, and such, but I would be more interested in the wood the body is made from. Often they used nicely figured wood for the fronts and it will be old and dry. Check the sounding board, it may be bronze. If I was a decent piano to begin with it will have nicer materials.


-Xander
 
If you have the means to haul this thing im sure theres something to be gained id go for it in a second.
 
They are made of iron which may be plated.
fast14riot said:
Well, usually the ivory is less than 1/16" thick on them. Great for mini's, guard spacers, guitar picks, and such, but I would be more interested in the wood the body is made from. Often they used nicely figured wood for the fronts and it will be old and dry. Check the sounding board, it may be bronze. If I was a decent piano to begin with it will have nicer materials.


-Xander
Click to expand...
 
AntCaps said:
If you have the means to haul this thing im sure theres something to be gained id go for it in a second.
Click to expand...

If it only costs you time and not money, I'd do it too.

The ivory will be very very thin.

If it has a cast iron frame, that's about 8$ per hundred pounds- enough to covers gas or more.

I'd take all the wood apart very carefully.

Maybe the outside is nice pretty wood.


The inside wood on old pianos is sought after from guitar makers doing handmade guitars
It's not fancy for knifes, opposite of that, clear, clean no knots or burls

old wood, well seasoned, they don't make it like that anymore....,
some also say that having it exposed to sound for all that time makes it better in some way..
changes the tonal qualities or something.

I'm sure Phillip Patton knows more
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/920503-Guitar-number-15

Even if you don't use it directly in knives- it may be worth while doing some sort of trades .
 
I've used piano ivory as inlay material om my first knife. (white ivory in black buffalo horn scales)
It's app. 1mm thick.
It looks good as inlay
 
This is an old upright piano that looks like it spent about 30 years in a garage. So I'm not quite sure on it being used for instruments, but possibly a decent little work bench. If it's still there I'll have it by the weekend and start in on the gutting soon.
 
I did an old piano recently and was suprised by how much veneer there was. Not much in the way of solid material on it, at least not the desireable stuff. By the end of it, 2 original iron casters were the coolest thing I had scored, and I lost those:(
 
Save the strings for really small blades -- 'piano wire ' is most likely 1095 !!
 
Over here, IVORY is one of the most regulated materials for international import/export. If it doesn't come with papers, don't EVER ship to or out of Canada.
 
Rick Marchand said:
Over here, IVORY is one of the most regulated materials for international import/export. If it doesn't come with papers, don't EVER ship to or out of Canada.
Click to expand...


That's one of the things that stops me.

I'd hate to have time and $ in a piece and have it seized.


I suppose I could learn how the paperwork works, but haven't yet.
 
Big ditto on the soundboard being worth money- find a luthier and see if he can use it- you'll make a friend for life, and perhaps get a big discount on an instrument!
Andy
 
Bad idea, I say.

Ivory is thin on the keys and why destroy someone else might want to use as originally intended? I think it's wasteful. Plus, what if it's in good shape.

If I were the owner of this piano, I'd make sure I found a home for it where it would be appreciated.
 
Personally, I doubt you'd get much use from the ivory... assuming it was actually ivory and not celluloid or some other plastic. Ditto the "ebony". If you like doing inlay work, maybe.... or layering them into a stacked sandwich that you carve like stacked micarta/G10, maybe. On the whole, though... sounds like a lot of work for little or no reward. But hey, who am I to judge on that score? ;)
 
NeoClassic said:
Bad idea, I say.

Ivory is thin on the keys and why destroy someone else might want to use as originally intended? I think it's wasteful. Plus, what if it's in good shape.

If I were the owner of this piano, I'd make sure I found a home for it where it would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

That is about the most sensible answer so far. It breaks my heart to drive by houses and see anvils, stone wheels, forges and other blacksmithing tools rusting in the garden as decoration. There is a woman down the street who could outfit a whole traditional smithy. She inheirited it from her father and has relegated it all to lawn ornaments.
 
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