Piano Gloss Black

[avaserfi]

Hey,

I did some looking, but can't find anything on this. Does anyone know of a good tutorial on how to make and apply a piano gloss black finish? I am planning a small project and would love to give it that sexy look. I will be doing the work at my dads who has all the necessary tools (I think).

Thanks in advance.

-Andrew

[steve-norrell]

I recently had a conversation with a furniture guy about that very topic. He claimed to have visited a piano factory and said that repeated lacquer spray coating and sanding was the answer.

Way too much work for this old guy. I look forward to some input from the experts on this forum.

Regards, Steve

[Tom Slick]

use automotive paint and an automotive style gun. as Steve mentioned it takes sanding and good prep work.

[wardprobst]

Okay, something I can contribute on finally!

Gloss black pianos are most commonly polyester these days- it's a tough, dangerous, way complicated, expensive finish. That said, you can get real close with either polyurethane or nitro cellulose lacquer.

The technique is the most labor intensive of all finish work. We have a friend who was trained by the guys at the Smithsonian. He used to do our finish work but gave it up because he could make way more money on furniture. The first thing is to fill the wood pores with past wood filler. Sand until you have a dead flat surfaces. Apply thin coats of high gloss ebony and sand between coats until you get a layer built up which is dead flat. Use finer and finer sandpaper until you get to 2000 grit then go to polishing compounds. If you get everything flat and no defects in the finish you can use it for a mirror.

Best,
DP

[cabinetman]

Okay, something I can contribute on finally!

Gloss black pianos are most commonly polyester these days- it's a tough, dangerous, way complicated, expensive finish. That said, you can get real close with either polyurethane or nitro cellulose lacquer.

The technique is the most labor intensive of all finish work. We have a friend who was trained by the guys at the Smithsonian. He used to do our finish work but gave it up because he could make way more money on furniture. The first thing is to fill the wood pores with past wood filler. Sand until you have a dead flat surfaces. Apply thin coats of high gloss ebony and sand between coats until you get a layer built up which is dead flat. Use finer and finer sandpaper until you get to 2000 grit then go to polishing compounds. If you get everything flat and no defects in the finish you can use it for a mirror.

Best,
DP

That's exactly right. I've used a few methods to get that finish. The polyester finish is sometimes referred to as "polyester lacquer", which in fact is more in the fiberglass resin family than the lacquer family, with both having acetone as a solvent. It is very hard to get a flawless spray finish due to its propensity to get air bubbles, as it sprays very heavy. But, even with all the problems, it is the most durable.

To get that finish on a wood substrate with oil base polyurethane, or lacquer, a pore filler should be used especially for open grained species like Red Oak or Mahogany. Once the filler has been applied (as per instructions), and sanded absolutely smooth, a stain or color can be applied if desired. From here the finish schedule would be the same for all the types of materials. Basically it is comprised of adding many coats of finish, wet sanding with water between coats up to 600x with silicon carbide paper (wet-or-dry). It is usually dark grey or green. The very last coat could be the color coat or clear coat(s), and should be wet sanded up to at least 1200x, and then rubbed with a smooth pumice, and then rottenstone. Or, wet sanded to 2000x. The sanding phases should be done with the paper wrapped on a block to maintain flatness. The final polish can be achieved with rubbing compounds and white polishing compounds. Some of these can be purchased at auto paint type stores.

These cabinets were done in oil based polyurethane that was sprayed. It's imperative that each coat be completely cured before applying the next coat. The finish was applied to Ebony and Satinwood after using a paste wood filler, and the first few coats of oil base polyurethane thinned with mineral spirits.
.

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These cabinets were made using a different substrate. The basic cabinetry was made with plywood, and MDF, and then laminated with mica (Formica). Then the mica was scuff sanded up to 400x, which resulted in an absolutely sealed smooth finish. Then it was sealed with a thinned lacquer coat. After many coats of lacquer it was wet sanded and rubbed out as above.
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[leehljp]

Please post a picture of the finished product. I have thought about that kind of finish before on a few pieces of furniture but couldn't get the gumption up for that kind of detail.

I will bet that once learned, it will become habit forming!