Black Lacquer

[mytreasure]

I have a black lacquer piano that has really seen some ware over the years and looks dull, and in a few places the bare wood is visible. I know to get the best finish, re-lacquering would be best. Howere I do not want to spend a fortune doing it up, I would just like to give it a polish, ie restore its shine and take out some of the small scartches.

I have heard that T-Cut that is used on cars and glass could do the job, if so which kind is best??? And if not are dose anybody know what i could do???

Many thanks
Adam

[Openwood]

I used T-Cut on some shallow scratches on our C7 and quite honestly it didn't make any difference that I could see. I also tried some of the Cori range of polishes and although they made the piano nice and shiny I didn't think it made much impact on even the smallest scratches. It's possible I was applying it wrongly but I tried my bestest to follow the destructions. I'm not convinced it's actually possible to polish out scratches non-professionally but I haven't tried the polish Steinway produces yet.

I don't know why polyester finishes are so popular really - they scratch so easily. Our C7 has a top of the range cover and it's well treated but there are still small scratches and whirls here and there. It also shows up fingerprints something chronic (maybe I should stop taking those cheeseburgers in with me). Whatever happened to those nice matt black finishes? God, life's a bitch.

Incidentally, the Cori and Steinway polishes and cloths can be bought online at the Piano Covers Online website.

[mytreasure]

To claen and polish black lacquer I have read somewhere that an oily soap should be used and then wiped off and polished using elbow-grease!!!

I have tried that but it dosen't hide surface scratches, Can anyone else shed any light on the issue.

Many Thanks

[Tom Tuner]

This may sound a bit crude, but the results are very accepable for many scratches and rubbed through edges, viz., black felt-tip permanent marker. The sort with a solvent base ink. Not very effective on poly finishes, but it is effective on real nitro-cellulose lacquer finishes. Any residue that shows up on the surface outside the scratch can be polished off easily.

Tom Tuner

[Tom Tuner]

Except for the colour this is the same as the 'wood-tone' touch-up pens for furniture (and pianos). You did not mention whether this is gloss or satin finish. Gloss lacquer can be polished with auto finish rubbing or metal polish such as Brasso. Satin finish can be cleaned up with an appropriate grade of steel-wool. Not toofine or you will gloss it.
Deep scratches can be filled with black wax such as crayon or black shoe wax and smoothed out. You may not make blemishes invisible, but you can make them inconspicuous.

Tom Tuner