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Today an aquaintance gave me the leftovers from an old piano they had junked out. Cracked harp. It was built by a New England manufacturer in 1886. There is enough Mahogany for 2 B&S sets, a couple of necks and some internals. I also have every key, and they are indeed Ebony and Ivory.
At 3 1/2"x1/2"x3/8" what could the Ebony be used for besides a nut? Who uses Ebony nuts?
The Ivory is .030" thick two pieces per key , 4"x1/2" and 1 7/8"x7/8". I was thinking inlay material and possibly laminating it for nuts and saddles. What glue would be best for the lamination.
Too bad no soundboard. I wouldn't have had to buy another brace for a long time.

Steve

Nice score!
I'm interested in the glue used to laminate the ivory as well. Someone on here sent me a little baggie of it last week and I'm dying to try it out for a nut or a saddle.

The mahogany should sound awesome!

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Reguards,

Ken H

the ebony makes great mando bridges.

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AWESOME! I just scored enough spruce for a BUNCH of guitars. Good spruce too! I also got mahogany and 70 lbs of EI Rosewood. GOt a couple upright piano tops. Surprise, they were pine with mahogany veneer, solid edge trim

I'm feeling the hook setting with regard to not paying for this stuff. (I did however buy 3 s for the guy who gave me the stuff, and gave him a donation too)

Anyone got any tips for finding cheap wood? Renovators, contractors, landfill owners?

Ken,
I rubbed a few brain cells together and came up with Ivory is made from a critter. CA sticks critters together quite well. I took a broken piece of Ivory and stuck it together with the CA, we'll see how that works. I don't know if it will be the correct answer.
Another question came to mind. How do you remove the yellowing without abrasives? Since this Ivory is only .030" I don't want to make it any thinner.
Tropical storm Gustav's leftovers made it to Chicago this morning so I won't be working today. Off to the shop to play with that Mahogany.
Steve

I get a LOAD from a shopfitter's company near me.

about twice a year I take the school bus and FILL it with offcuts of walnut, mahogany, cherry, ash, as well as MDF & ply for moulds.

and by offcuts, I mean BIG offcuts!!

here's SOME of the last load......






if you ask, worst thing is they'll say no.......

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Well, my Mahogany is the same as Terry's. A nice veneer and some nice old growth Poplar. At least I still have my Chickens.

Try oven cleaner to remove the left over finger oils on the ivory. Or maybe just a good soak in that false teeth cleaning solution? I would think if they were roughed up a tad bit that sticking them together is going to be easier.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Wow Martin. God stuff. Does "shopfitter" mean cabinet shop? Great deal going there.

Makes you light headed looking at it....

Shopfitters are the guys who make the wood pannelling in the bank, Hotel or top end office.

the ones I scrounge from don't tender for jobs under £1 million

yup, that's $2,000,000!!

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My latest score, Walnut, jatoba, cherry, and mahogany. The guy was moving and JJ and I bought about 45 boards for $1 each and he called back and gave me all this stuff.

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jw ( o)===:::

Martin, thanks for the tip. Joe & Martin, I'd love to get some wood like that! Some of my stuff is in raised paneled doors, shutters, boards, old furiture, etc. BUT there is Good mahogany, walnut, spruce , maple, etc.