Piano help.

[trash man]

We were given a old piano this summer, it was pretty sad looking but sounded good all things consiterd. We used Formbys to remove the old discoled varnish and a nice red mahogany came through. I rubed in some tung oil and it really looks good. Problem is some of the veneer is lifting and needs to be glued somehow ? Any ideas or tips, type of glue etc. I need to get it glued and polyed so I can park in the garage agian as another Wisconsin will soon be upon us.



Thanks , Wayne ( Trash Man )

[dlminehart]

Wayne, I googled "piano veneer gluing" and found a lot of links, including this one that recommends using hide glue: http://www.pianorestoring.com/Steinw...ee/pageone.htm . Part of the reason was that using fresh hide glue would reactivate some of the existing hide glue, helping the restoration.

[Pappy]

I do believe we have a resident expert in this area...

[wardprobst]

Thanks Pappy,

It was probably originally glued with hot hide glue but that's pretty hard to do well unless you are set up for it. Cold hide glue has urea added which compromises the strength of the glue. Aliphatic resin (Titebond, etc) will probably work if you can clean out under the veneer and clamp it some way. For small areas CA glues works but doesn't hold up all that well. All that said, if you put it in your garage the instrument is not going to do too well. If you want information on taking care of a piano go to www.ptg.org.
Hope this helps,
DP

[trash man]

Thanks guys, Not to worry DP the piano was in the garage for striping and because the kitchen was getting new floor and trim,it will be inside within a week. I wanted to get the messy part of the job done in the garage. If I get glue or polly on new kitchen floor I will be in the garage .

thanks Wayne.

[dlminehart]

Rockler sells a liquid hide glue that doesn't require heating. I can't speak to the urea/weakening issue, but the reviewer here ( http://tinyurl.com/vj2vd ) seems to think it's OK.