Brazilian Rosewood

Woodworking Finishing – Finish a Piano

My career in restoring pianos began like a lot of opportunities in life-by chance. When I was 23 I had a cabinetmaking shop in Montrdal; next door was a Parisian cabinetmaker, Jean Gilles Jozon. Jean was a cabinetmaker of the old tradition and I spent many hours in his atelier leaming about different finishing methods-techniques that haven’t changed for generations. I later followed him to Paris and spent a working holiday there restoring antiques.

Through mutual friends I met a piano technician named Gilles Losier, and I began doing finishing work on pianos he was restoring. In his youth, Gilles had a foreman who could select the wood for a piano case, install the soundboard, string the piano, cut the keys, and assemble and regulate the mechanism. He could even sit down and play a tune. Sadly, craftsmen with that range of expertise in the piano trade have all but vanished.

Restoring pianos presents many challenges: The instrument must not only look great; it must also sound superb and respond well mechanically. The instrument shown in the photograph is a 7-foot Chickering and Sons grand piano built in Boston in 1875. I counted 10 different woods used in its making, although the entire surface is veneered with Brazilian rosewood.

My first task involved filling the grain of the wood with a dark paste filler. I then applied a coat ofsanding sealer, and next sprayed on eight coats oflacquer. To keep the final finish thin and to level any depressions caused by the large pores ofthe rosewood veneer, I cut every second lacquer coating with 220-grit sandpaper.

The Iegs demanded special attention. Theywere made from large blocks of poplar wood so I had to create my own stain, blending in just enough yellow and red to simulate rosewood’s distinctive hue. I sketched in gain lines using a combination of feathers and brushes, with the top of the piano standing nearby as a guide. The grain patterns in rosewood can get quite wild, so you can take artistic liberties in trying to simulate it as long as you respect a few rules, such as keeping the grain lines running parallel.

The final coat of finish was sanded with 220-grit and then 400-grit paper. All that remained at the time was taken was to rub the finish to a soft gloss with 0000 steel wool, buffwith a cotton cloth and apply acarnauba-based wax.

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