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greetings all. I am embarking on building a sitar from scratch. I've found sources for recycled piano keys which i want to use for an edge binding around the soundboard- not very acute curves. Ive heard of techniques for bending thin ivory - steeping in yogurt or vinegar??? any experience and successful bending of ivory out there, let me know what you found that works!
many thanks, Alan

Um .......I would not be so brave as to try to bend ivory. I am not saying it can't be done mind you. Due to the material length in the first place you are going to have many verical joints.MichaelP38950.6752314815

I don't know if this will work on ivory. When I was in high school we soaked a cows long leg bone in vinegar for a week or two at which time it was more flexible than rubber. we tied it in a simple knot, sat it out in the sun, and when it dried it was again hard and brittle. It now had a knot and the vinegar also acted as a bleach- it was very white.

Dean

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Dean

I haven't tried it myself but have heard that vinegar will soften it up.

Let us know how it works.

Louis

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- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

It would be much easier to segment the pieces needed around the rim and use an undercut edge for where pieces join and the joint will be barely noticable. I have done this for ivory lines in both furniture and instruments and it works well. Just feather the edge between the pieces, glue together and sand flush and it will look very good. It is much easier than trying to bend ivory. I would be wary of any technique that could change the color or characteristics of the Ivory as it will be very noticable as the ivory oxidizes.

Plus I would fear that the vinegar would bleach the Ivory and ruin the effect of ivory binding.

sitarwallah,

Sounds like a daunting task. Another option could be to use it as purfling. It would be much easier to shape and you could make it as wide as you wanted.

Philip

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aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

Ivory piano keys are a thin veneer (.030-.045") that are pretty flexible even when dry. Just soaking them in water makes them very pliable, so I bet the vinegar would really do the trick. Another possibility is boiling them and clamping around a form until dry.

You can tint epoxy with a white colorant and it may help to hide the joints. This is available at Woodcraft. Just a thought.

Keep in mind that one end of the key can have quite a bit of wear and will be thinner than the other. This has bitten me in the past. Choose carefully. You might want to thickness them down, but at that point they'll be pretty thin. I considered all this and then resorted to white plastic binding.

I wonder how all those antique ivory bindings were bent in prior centuries? I'm guessing one of the techniques already mentioned in this thread.

SteveSteve Spodaryk38951.8930555556