Piano Key Ivory

codenamepaul

March 12, 2014 12:04

I peruse the Free ads on {elsewhere} often and always see pianos for free. If one were to remove the ivory keys from an old piano, could they be fashioned in some way into material to use in a pistol grip? Laminated together into a solid piece perhaps? Has anyone considered doing this? Might this be a means of getting some authentic ivory grips?

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  charliemeyer007

  March 12, 2014 12:30

  I doubt you will find many free piano's with ivory keys. I think you could laminate them up to work, but they will always look like laminate. I have done some work with antler and I'm not sure which stinks worse to work - bone or micarta.
  
  http://nashvillepianorescue.com/ivory-facts

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  codenamepaul

  March 12, 2014 13:37

  I see tons made in the early 1900s. A few pre 1900. I would assume a piano of that age would have ivory keys, no?

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  babun

  March 12, 2014 14:06

  Almost all keys made before 1930 would be Ivory. Easy way to tell is to look at the key were it changes shape {from wide to skinny} If there is a joint line, it's Ivory. One piece keys are plastic or a faux ivory
  material.
  The ivory ones are worth more to a piano guy than all the work you would have to do to "laminate" them together. Good SETS go for $100 to
  $400.

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  Spider7115

  March 12, 2014 14:08

  As ivory piano keys rarely match due to usage, as well as their relatively small size, I would think they would be better utilized for inlays in grips, rifle stocks, etc.

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  Bill DeShivs

  March 12, 2014 21:17

  Obama is about to make ALL ivory illegal, unless you can prove it's antique.

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  thorhammer

  March 13, 2014 15:12

  I have half a coffee can of them, and cannot think of a use for
  
  them as they are thin strips glued on the keys. So you want a
  
  hernia lifting a piano? I had to smash our Wurlitzer Spinet,
  
  saved the ivory, and some of the wood and the rest was dumped. It
  
  weighed 500 pounds, and I wasn't getting it out of our basement
  
  intact. Like the others said, ivory will be completely illegal to
  
  own and what its attached to.

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  yoshmyster

  March 14, 2014 14:52

  Back in the day my arts teacher offered me a couple of bundles of them. They might've filled the bottom of a big coffee can standing up popsicle stick style. I could only think they were good for inlay so I passed them up.
  
  I know back in the day they used to grind them up and made cue balls so they can be formed.
  
  I dont think lam is the way since the strips were tapered on the wide strips and grooved for glue on the narrower ones. If I had made pool tables I would've been set for ivory diamonds [:D].

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