Polished black finish

[Bennyfingers]

Howdy

What's the deal with getting a shiny black finish? I've tried a lot of things on scrap pieces of oak, but not sure what the secret is... Is it something that's possible to acheive from home? Can aerosol sprays acheive a propper *ting* finish??

Can anyone recommend a good book or site or something that explains it? Kind of a Reblitz but for finishing?? There's lots of info around the interwebs for a `piano finish` over wood, but a black piano finish seems to be in a realm of its own.

thanks a lot

Ben

p.s, yes I fully realise I should be consulting a professional....

[Colin Nicholson]

Ben

I think the 'finish' you are referring to is the highly polished "glass" finish - known as polyester finish (or poly for short). Eg, Yamaha & Kawai use this finish.... but not always in black. Black being more popular, but there are also walnut, oak and rosewood polyester finishes aswell. A highly specialised job, and I don't know the secret or formula to the high gloss finish. I know that you can buy repair kits from Yamaha...... but I also know that its expensive to have a team of specialists to professionally repair a crack in one. Someone else here may be able to offer you more help.

Some timber/ wood/ veneer specialists occasionally run wood finishing courses.... eg John Boddy's in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire; but I think that they mainly cover French polishing, acrylic/ shellac finishes...... check them out! However, not to be confused for the older "ebonised" black finish, of pianos around the turn of the 1900's.

[sussexpianos]

http://www.axminster.co.uk/taunton-spra ... rod819172/

This will help. The black finish most people want is hard to acheive because the hard work is in the preparation. The wood has to be flat, grain filled, imperfections removed. If you have never stripped a piano or started a large project like this then don't. I have only seen one completed DIY piano case and that was vanish, looked good until I needed to get the action out and couldn't because the rail were stuck in! It will take a professional 4 weeks to prep and finish a black piano in precat(not a diy finish)> Your best chance, you you still want to do it, is to read the books and use cellelose BMW black.
In all true honesty, it will be cheaper to buy a new piano and it will be a better finish being Polyester.