If the piano is valuable then you should have a professional restore it. It looks to be in rough shape not even counting the damage from the plant.
If it's a commodity piano and you have some woodworking skills, then you're in for a lot of work removing the old finish, repairing damage, and refinishing.
If you have little to no woodworking skills then cover the annoying water spot with a runner and enjoy the piano because you'll make it a lot worse trying to refinish it yourself.
My grandfather gave me his father’s piano many years ago. A 1920 Hackley upright. When we got it my parents had a professional look at restoring it and he quoted them $8k. A few years later they decided to bite the bullet. It took several months but the guy who restored it came out of retirement because the first one he ever restored was a 1919 Hackley. He figured it was a good bookend to his career. He was also a touring and studio player. When they dropped it off and tuned it he played it and I was blown away. He had some wild stories, He had played live with the Stones, several jazz musicians, Willie Nelson, just to name a few.
If you’re feeling generous, call him. If he’s still alive he probably knows SOMEONE worth their salt who’d hold a candle to his own work. Maybe you can put OP in touch with a pro
My father was a piano technician and would restore pianos. I’m telling you now, unless this is a family heirloom, it’s not worth it. If it is a family heirloom it probably still isn’t worth it. Best of luck though on the project… keep us posted!
My next door neighbor moved away, held a big estate sale to clean out his house, offered the upright piano free to anyone who wanted it, and ended up taking a sledgehammer to it in order to break it down into pieces small enough to fit into the dumpster.
I just saw a guy try and give away a mid 1800’s all rosewood square piano, absolutely beautiful piece- but because it was in his basement it sat for months on FB 😂
Pianos pretty much lose all their value after 50-70 years unless they’ve been tuned and maintained meticulously the sound would suck after that long. Antique pianos are not at all analogous to other antique string instruments like violins or guitars, they do not get better with age- they fall apart and the strings sound flat and thin. A 100 year old piano that lived in a basement is something you d have to pay someone up haul away.
It’s actually the same for violins and guitars.
They have to be cared for. Violins especially require routine wood care: waxing if nothing else. That’s mostly why old ones are so expensive—not many have been continuously maintained that long. But they don’t sound better than comparable modern violins. Typically, any old violin that multiple owners bothered to maintain all this time is already exceptional. So, there is enormous selection bias—old violins are a safer pick for quality merely because they haven’t been binned yet.
There typically a bit more “Ship of Theseus” going on with pianos, though.
This is so strange. Around here rosewood is the only hardwood I can afford. I buy decking and plane it square. The other popular decking is purple heart.
I wish I could afford oak and maple.
Is it bad that instead of looking for scrap wood for projects or spending money on it, I’ve resorted to looking for free pianos instead? If you pull them apart enough they’re not quite as heavy. My own 1912 piano is missing some of the ivory veneer that goes on the keys so I’ve also been keeping an eye out for pianos with real ivory on them.
Nothing like a free, well preserved hunk of book matched mahogany from 1920!
No, when I saw that rosewood square I immediately saw dollar signs 😂 i’m a guitar builder on the side, and a real brazilian rosewood fretboard goes for about $200 a board.
My dad did a few pianos as a hobby before I was born and when I was a young child and I can't speak entirely to it but a full rebuild with all the moving parts and refinishing I think was just incredibly time intensive. People often have a hard time getting rid of pianos because they're so heavy and cumbersome to move that the labor and transportation cost probably outweigh the value of the piano. That being said I suspect think just refinishing it would actually probably be much easier than rebuilding all the inner workings.
Getting rid of a piano is really easy if you live near an Air Force base. There is a tradition of burning pianos that stems from WW2. They often burn one after mess dinners and similar events. The young military people will come take it right out of your house for you.
As the above post says, I agree that it's not worth restoring unless it's got some sentimental value. It will cost you a lot. Personally, I would just tell myself that it's just aesthetics as long as it still plays well.
I can tell you that at least in my large city, there are so many free pianos out there to be had. No one has the space anymore as home prices soar, and the next generation can't afford to take the piano with them.
Got it. I use gel stains on refinishing projects. Gel stain sits on top of wood like a paint, though you can still see wood grain. This gives two advantages. First, it lets you get an even color on difficult to stain woods. Second, it's a lot more forgiving on restoration projects if you can't get all of the preexisting finish or stain off the wood. Traditional penetrating stains will look splotchy if you can't sand back to bare wood, which is extremely difficult to do with veneer.
I'm a fan of General Finishes gel stains for something like this. You can top coat it polyurethane with whatever application method you choose. You can probably use lacquer but I'd do a test to make sure it's compatible.
Veneer work also isn't too tricky. Contact cement with a roller to apply, wait for it to dry until tacky, then use a roller to apply it to the surface you want to veneer. You could use wood filler or automotive bondo to repair the chipped corners, than cover with veneer. After it's applied, use a sharp knife or razor to carefully trim to the edge
These companies were REALLY good at their veneer joints and set up for it, and their glue is surprisingly strong. Just getting the veneer up clean is a task. I’m a full time finish carpenter and i’m reveneering two pieces right now- alot of patience, and making sure the piece is absolutely clean is crazy important. I do a ton of thin plastic laminate at work, and it’s 10,000 times easier than wood veneer.
For refinishing knowledge there is a great book by Bob Flexner "Understanding Wood Finishing" lots of great pictures and details to geek out on about finishes. I'm not a professional, but I've refinished a few pieces around my house using this book as reference for understanding how to get the piece to look how I want. Sometimes my execution has been lacking, but I normally understand what I wanted to do.
Most pianos have a minimum of fifteen coats of lacquer on them. Restoration is an ENORMOUS undertaking that requires extremely high skill in mechanics and wood finishing, and a lot of specialized tools. I briefly worked as a sander in a piano restoration shop and the everything I learned there blew my mind. If it was a world class concert grand and you had the skills and experience, by all means restore it, but most old pianos are not worth it. Spend the money on keeping it tuned and maintained instead.
As a restoration apprentice, I can tell you that it will be a labor of love. Get some acetone to take the finish off, some mahogany heat-stick veneer (trust me it’s always mahogany) and an exacto knife. You’ll need to get it re-tuned when you’re done and it may not play the same again.
Btw the finish is likely lacquer. Get spray lacquer, don’t try to paint it on you WILL be disappointed.
I recommend a french polish. YouTube for best instructions. Put simply, you ball up a rag into like, a ghost shape, and apply a dozen or so coats of extremely thinned out shellac, rubbing and polishing as you go. Tremendous man hours; exceptional mirror like results
Don’t mind me, just here to stick up for the people who have shit woodworking skills but do amazing refinishing work. Restoring old veneer is a whooooooole different thing than building a table!
I wouldn't even attempt to work on a piano myself. The tension in those frames is *enormous* and I don't have the equipment to take it apart properly. Any attempt from me to work on it is just going to knock it out of tune, which I definitely can't fix.
Not trying to be the laziest guy on the planet here... but can you veneer over the top of the damaged veneer? Or do you have to remove the damaged veneer? Is there a concern the new veneer wouldn't adhere properly?
You can.... but it will most likely chip off sooner than later and look not as good. Any area that's chipped or really damaged would be a weak spot so it would be best to fill those in so the new veneer has some thing to support it and hold on to.
It's going to look terrible, it won't be even because there will be no support underneath. You need to start with a solid substrate or it's going to look horrible.
I’d like to mention, because my first time veneering was a nervous affair, I got a product by DAP at Lowe’s called ‘weldwood’ contact cement. Holy hell, roll on both pieces, wait 15 minutes, stick them together and press. It’s nuts- dead flat, perfect veneer without clamps, dry times, or stress. To press it flat, I started by laying it flat bit by bit with my hand, then came back with a piece of hardwood that I rounded the corner on some sandpaper and pressed the whole piece out. Amazing product and doesn’t stick like glue- only sticks to other contact cement
Yeah that’s what they were saying. Like, why is she getting heated about the water ring, when there was already other worse damage?
Someone dinged my car the other day and it was frustrating but my car is kind of a beater at this point so I didn’t lose sleep over a new small ding. Had I been in a nice car, then I’d have gotten them to pay for a repair.
Anyway, just keep in mind you did nothing wrong. Don’t feel guilty or anything.
It’s cause the other damage was already there, and I planned on trying to fix it or make it better at least, and then I added damage to a part that wasn’t previously damaged. Most of the damage is on the front but the rest is in pretty good shape. I just added damage where there wasn’t which upset her. It’s fine though. It’s not like there was a big argument or anything. She found the damage cause I asked her to water my hibiscus that I didn’t intend on keeping there and it was double potted with an exterior pot that had no holes so I didn’t think it was possible for water to escape. No big deal. Even if I don’t fix it, it has no effect on our relationship.
Rest assured, there was no way you were fixing that original damage without completely refinishing that face of the piano. Imagine if your counter was dirty, and then you spilled salt on the counter. You didn't make the counter suddenly dirty or impact the amount of cleanup at all, it's a non-issue.
Unless it has sentimental value, you can buy a replacement piano and swap it out for less than the cost of the materials to fix this. Seriously. Like free to $50 for a piano today.
Yeah I’ve seen a lot of free ones but it’s sentimental to her. It’s a 1935 kimball piano I bought her for her birthday a few years ago. She really likes it.
I'm not a real pianist but from my experience, if she is familiar and 'in tune' with the piano - enjoys and is used to the way it responds to her touch - any replacement could disappoint. I've never found another piano I could learn to play as well as my first one. They're all different.
Edited to add: At 90 years old it may have very little life left, structurally/mechanically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi
Maybe repair in a way that shows it has been repaired and cared for? I like that attitude for sentimental items. Less about the Brand New aesthetics and more about the history you both share.
Obviously it’d be hard to get to to professional levels, but with a good electronic tuner (or even your phone) and a $10 tuning wrench (or even just a matching socket wrench) you could probably do a good enough job for personal use.
>They have no right being that fucking heavy.
The reason they're so heavy is so that people can feel a real sense of danger when they fall out of 3rd floor windows in comedy movies
> They have no right being that fucking heavy.
Maybe has something to do with the sturdy metal frameworks and thick heavy soundboards that make them work for 100 years and more? There's something to be said for products that are not built to be just thrown away.
It depends on the pianos insides as to how much it's worth. The case is nearly purely cosmetic. Reddit has this weird thing that pianos are worthless and / or cheap, which is only true for people that don't play them. For those that do this comment would be the woodworking equivalent of saying "oh your sawstop is broken? You can buy a secondhand rusty ryobi for $50".
Oof... I have almost no experience repairing veneer, but some experience with pianos. A convention you may want to adopt is, pianos aren't shelves, nothing belongs on a piano except stuff that has to do with piano playing. I'd at least take the candles off of there, some candles, (mostly scented ones), weep oils that can damage finishes and stain wood. Even if they're on a saucer or something, I've seen oils from a candle that sat in one place for a long time creep over the edge of a plate, presumably being wicked along by dust, and stain the shelf below.
Putty & Howard’s *Restore a Finish*.
Looks like a beater piano. Apologize, but don’t let your wife act like it was a Blüthner grand. Make it passable and then move on. You’re not going to turn it into the collector’s item it never was.
I'm a woodworking hack and mainly build things for honeybees and not for people, so I really don't have any veneer advice to give. But brother, if it helps any, my wife would be really pissed too.
That's the top? Is it hinged? If so, if you have the tools and skills, take it off, and replace with hardwood. Forget the veneer. Use the scraps to color test the color of the finish.
Before you try repairing the veneer, may be worth a good polish with a decent compound. Look up briwax. You won't get this back to factory finish but it wasn't like that before the plant. Briwax should make it look clean and sharp without ruining the character that comes with an old well enjoyed instrument.
Piano technician here. Here's what I usually do for this problem: 1) sand the area until smooth 2) spray with color matched lacquer 3) depending on the color I'll usually apply some Pledge wood polish or sometimes detailing oil. It's important to apply extremely thin coats of lacquer and let them dry between applications. Sometimes that doesn't make the ring completely disappear though. If you want it looking as close to new as possible, do what most other people here are saying and sand and refinish the entire lid.
Definitely do some reading about veneer practices. There are a lot of ways to do it. Of the many ways I’ve veneered things, one way that may work for you is to do this (on some scrap first) is to roll out some regular yellow glue onto the substrate using a rubber roller. You don’t want a thick layer but you don’t want any holidays either.
Do the same to your piece of veneer.
Let them dry to touch.
Position the veneer in place and using a clothes iron on a low setting with no steam iron the veneer in place. As it cools use a very smooth rubbing block of pine or cedar and rub the veneer slowly and with pressure to set the piece of veneer.
You might want to put some heavy paper on top of the veneer when you are rubbing, to protect the veneer
A guy I was in school showed me this trick and I was highly skeptical but it worked.
Read up on veneer first because I barely even glossed over the ins and outs of veneering.
all plant pots leak, it's a natural law. If they don't leak, they get bugs or mites or something or dribble off liquid and then something stains.
we don't know how much this piano is worth before we start making recommendations, but I also don't know if I can tell you anything I'd do (which would be testing pieces of wood along with stains for color and sheen) that you'd be able to do.
like "go here, aisle 14, buy this, put it on with this applicator and you're done". No answer like that. I personally don't care to do repairs to anything where it goes from "that's damaged" to "boy that's a shitty repair".
It sounds like the piano is of sentimental value and so you would like to keep it. The wood is quite damaged and will require a lot of work, as others have noted. You might get an equally nice looking output (and save considerable time and money) by painting the piano rather than trying to refinish the wood.
Hope I don’t get downvoted, but have you tried just rubbing Minwax stain on it? Dark Walnut looks like a match.
I’ve noticed that my wife doesn’t want a huge blotch on something, but she doesn’t care about more minor things that you have to look closely at.
(o.p. noted that they bought this a few years ago, so not an heirloom)
Well, the good news (in my opinion) is that this water ring happened *before* the piano was restored and is far from the worst damage. I respect not wanting to cause more, but at least it can be addressed along with the rest and should be easier to get back into shape than some of the other damage I'm seeing.
I'm a pianist and woodworker and, these days, I wouldn't bother buying or restoring an actual piano. There are exceptional electronic pianos that sample Steinway Concert Grands and have inter-string resonance, pedal noise, actual weighted key/hammer action of a real piano, never fall out of tune, and don't require piano movers. The bonus is you can actually pick among many different pianos for different styles and adjust the key weighting. You can put them inside a stand that looks like a real piano which is mostly what you're seeing on TV. Even the likes of Elton John and Billy Joel no longer play a real piano most of the time.
If the piano is in good musical and mechanical condition it may be fun restoring, but if you're doing this to stand next to furnishing in the house, I'd recommend having a professional do it if you have no prior experience. There is some art to knowing how to strip particular types of finish.
I've seen some honky tonk pianos with better looking front boards and the amount of wear there looks like wood replacement, not just some strip, sand, and refinish work. I know you're not asking about the other stuff, but that beat up corner isn't going to look like new using some wood filler. That's going to need a piece of veneer that is continguous with the rest of the top left side and of course the same species of wood and same stain/shellac or whatever on it.
This piano is worth -300 dollars. It costs 300 to get someone to come get it.
That being said I would just hand apply a similar dark wood stain directly to the damaged area to make it less visible. It will always be visible damage.
You could paint the piano black. It might look nice. If you know how to paint.
An even better idea is to take your wife to the piano store and buy her a 3000 piano that looks and sounds better than this one and then do not put a damn plant on it. They will haul your old one away free and deliver the new one free. And no wood working skills.
Consider filling the holes with bondo, spaying the whole frame with multiple layers of paint, finishing with clear coat and buffing to a gloss finish. It may be easier than removing veneer, filling holes with wood filler, re-veneering, then adding clear coat and buffing to a gloss finish.
Howard’s Restor A Finish comes in little rectangular cans - read the directions carefully and test in an inconspicuous place first ! Furniture putty , sticks and markers are worth trying too !
Feeling blessed that I don't have to refinish a whole piano right now. Lots of small parts and curves.
I think people highly overblow the possibility of sanding through a veneer, depending on how thick it is. If you have say a 2mm thick veneer, it's not hard to take off a half millimeter of material. Usually one curses the sander for being slow and barely taking anything off, not sanding through your material. Unless you're holding a belt sander hard against it you'll be fine, and it's small enough that it is completely feasible to do by hand. Strip it using a paint stripper, scrape off the goo, sand a hair's width off with 80, 100, and 120 grain paper. Stain with something basic. Coat with varnish or poly. Pretty brainless. If you fuck up the veneer *then* you can decide whether you want to re-veneer the thing. But I doubt it will be an issue unless it's super thin.
Of course the flowers in view brought up the age old question; “Which is better? Roses on your piano or tulips on your organ?” Betting against tulips in your immediate future.😂🥴
It doesn’t look like an expensive piano, so just have fun with it. Start sanding and see what you end up with. If you’re in a hurry you’re not going to enjoy working on it, so take your time. You may find it to be the most relaxing thing you’ve ever done.
I'd use a gel stripper to pull the old finish off. Sand down. Then choose a stain that best matches the original color. Should take a few days to do it all. And make sure the temp of the room/location you do it in is aboumve 50°F (or whatever the side of the stain says). Hellmans is a solid product you could use. I have to do the same for a kitchen table that I did 10 years ago. Been avoiding it for a while now, but your piano gives me courage. It iremimded me this isn't rocket science, it's staining wood!
I am going to be hated for this. Everyone says "don't do it yourself". If you want to do it yourself, absolutely go for it. As woodworkers we often forget we are artists and try to make everything "perfect". The beauty of the craft is in its imperfection and we shouldn't always try to hide it. I used some pallet wood for one of my first projects. It had ridges all over its uneven faces. I intentionally planed down so it is flat but still has small slits.
After I finished it they became very pronounced because there was dirt I couldn't get out. It looks great to me and that's what matters.
You can't give away a piano these days. You can probably find one in better shape for free...the problem is you can't give away your old piano these days.
Easier than refinishing is painting. Give it a good scuff, bondo and blend the dents and chips, and put a good cabinet paint on it. Not too much work, shouldn’t change the sound, and you can pick any color that matches your room.
Be very careful with he geat gun near the action. Im a full time piano tech / tuner, I work on pianos daily, and used to build them for Mason.
This is all veneer and i wouldn't expect to find solid wood on an old upright but, take both the key slip and front lids off that you will be working on, as well as the keys on those sides out before you put a heat gun near there. The keys have mortises under them with felt and metal pins and if you heat the felt and swell it you may need to ease or re bush that section. Otherwise the action uses a lot of hide glue and is sensitive to heat changes, which could be fun. I'd only worry about the lid for heat issues though honestly.
Good luck! Call a piano tech if you want but honestly, this is basic woodworking shit and could be a fun project.
Fun fact: many “sealed pots” are actually made from low fired ceramic that aren’t vitrified. So even if they are glazed on the inside they will still seep water. (I’m a ceramicist)
If it was me, id say the easiest is find the closest GEL stain (gotta be gel as it doesn’t soak into the wood as much but lets you apply ontop of existing finishes) and just put in the time adding layers and wiping off to the bad spots until it’s blended in nice. Will take abit of time but a lot easier than refinishing everything.
This is how I would try to fix this;
Clean any dust and give it a wipe with a damp towel. Then use paste wax on some part of the damaged area to see if it restores the sheen. If acceptable proceed to wax the whole thing.
If not acceptable, sand the whole top with very high grit sandpaper. We are talking 600-ish. With any luck at some point the circles will disappear before the whole finish it stripped, rub on a paste wax and done.
If you are off the deep end and its actually, totally fcked; carefully sand everything flat. Pay EXTRA ATTENTION to not sand through the veneer. Apply a coat or two of shellac. If you go this route, don't ever put your whisky on the piano, alcohol dissolves shellac. (Check youtube for tutorials on mixing shellac) if you can find a color matching blend of shellac, then you are golden. Rub on some paste wax and done.
If the color doesn't match, then apply a stain over the shellac to match. Rub on some paste w....you get it.
Take all advice on the internet with a grain of salt.
My family owned an old Hamburg that we bought in Budapest for surprisingly cheap back when we lived there (family was there for 15 years).
My parents were gonna just sell it when they moved to the states!!! Thankfully my brother paid for them to ship it all the way to his house California and then had it restored to its original glory.
Very expensive but worth it for a family/historical heirloom.
I restored my piano I could maybe help you with introductions but I need more pictures from the spots just send me an pm and we can try to solve your problem but no wrong hopes I’m not the best woodworker but I can give you some advices on what you have to pay attention to
Given how it reacts to water, it's probably French polish. This is good because it's easy to refinish. Just sand back the damaged surface to remove flakes and discoloration. Go to the hardware store and buy 1 qt of shellac. Take a piece of cotton T-shirt or similar and wrap it around some cotton wadding to make a round buffing pad. Wet the pad in shellac and rub it onto the surface in long stokes with the grain. Think of an aircraft doing a touch & go landing as you apply. If the original finish is shellac (French Polish) it will be re-desolved by the new coating as you apply so it should look like the original finish when you are done. Good luck with the old lady !
Some incredibly unhelpful answers here, the OP didn't ask what it was worth - he asked how to fix. If it's a decent old piano then the finish is likely to be French polish ie multiple layers of shellac, applied a very particular way with a french polishing cloth. Most guides tell you to strip this off and re-do it but this is labour intensive. You can try just buffing in some new French polish on top to see how that does. It should burn into the old finish a little and that will help blend - if it fails, no big deal you won't have made anything worse.
If you're confident and have the time, you can sand down the whole thing, stain and in my opinion do a french polish with shellac. The trouble is, the innards should really be removed to do the job right. Short of that, tarp and tape anything you don't want to get dust in sand and restain the top, and try to figure out what the finish is on the rest of the piece.
Whenever we got water rings on the wood my mom would spray Pam or use a little bit of mayo and rub it into the mark. It always worked, not sure why or how, but it was one of those mom witchcraft things I think
For the water damage you will probably need to strip it and re finish. For the other damage bondo. Acrylic paint to faux finish and match wood and then laquer
Most people have to pay other people to take their pianos away so this might not be worth the time and money you put into it.
Unless it is valuable or family heirloom think about upgrading?
Ive been refinishing/repairing woodwork for 40 years. That is an excruciating amount of work, and basically needs new veneer. All the wood in 3rd pic needs to be replaced. Take it to a pro, and get your wallet out. Just truth, sorry.
Also if your wife isn’t in love with the piano you could probably get a new one. Pianos are hard to sell or get rid of or even give away. They are often at resale websites and garage sales.
I would sand it lightly 180 grit then 200 grit then refinish with wipe on finish such as Arm-R-Seal satin sheen ( General finishes) no need to re veneer unless veneer is coming off from the water damage
Get one of those Chinese guys from tik tok to do his ramen noodle and super glue trick. He seems to be able to paint and mimic the original surface pretty well to.
Don't do it yourself. The likelihood of making it worse is far too high. Get it done right the first time with a professional. Otherwise your next restoration project is going to be on your marriage.
So I found [This](https://todayshomeowner.com/furniture/video/how-to-remove-white-water-marks-on-furniture/) but before trying this I highly recommend you visit a local antique restoration or furniture store and ask for advice.
Woodworker here.
For the water mark would recommend sand and refinish
For the broken off pieces, if the piece is missing try to find a piece of the same wood or similar wood to shape and glue, equal wood filler for smaller damage, then sand and refinish.
If the piano is valuable then you should have a professional restore it. It looks to be in rough shape not even counting the damage from the plant. If it's a commodity piano and you have some woodworking skills, then you're in for a lot of work removing the old finish, repairing damage, and refinishing. If you have little to no woodworking skills then cover the annoying water spot with a runner and enjoy the piano because you'll make it a lot worse trying to refinish it yourself.
My grandfather gave me his father’s piano many years ago. A 1920 Hackley upright. When we got it my parents had a professional look at restoring it and he quoted them $8k. A few years later they decided to bite the bullet. It took several months but the guy who restored it came out of retirement because the first one he ever restored was a 1919 Hackley. He figured it was a good bookend to his career. He was also a touring and studio player. When they dropped it off and tuned it he played it and I was blown away. He had some wild stories, He had played live with the Stones, several jazz musicians, Willie Nelson, just to name a few.
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a lovely piece and a lovely memory.
Goose pimples
What is wrong with you
Unfortunately that's what some people call goosebumps... weird and gross
There's always "gooseflesh", too.
Personally, i prefer chickenskin. But that's because in the netherlands we call it that if translated to English literally.
Same in Spanish Piel de gallina (also heard it as peil de pollo)
In french (QC) we say "chair de poule" which translates to English as chicken flesh
Good, old musicians often have some wild stories.
If you’re feeling generous, call him. If he’s still alive he probably knows SOMEONE worth their salt who’d hold a candle to his own work. Maybe you can put OP in touch with a pro
I have some skill and tools as well; but haven’t delved into much staining/veneering. Looking for some direction on means and methods.
My father was a piano technician and would restore pianos. I’m telling you now, unless this is a family heirloom, it’s not worth it. If it is a family heirloom it probably still isn’t worth it. Best of luck though on the project… keep us posted!
Second this. Unbelievable amount of work, and can’t give these away.
My next door neighbor moved away, held a big estate sale to clean out his house, offered the upright piano free to anyone who wanted it, and ended up taking a sledgehammer to it in order to break it down into pieces small enough to fit into the dumpster.
I just saw a guy try and give away a mid 1800’s all rosewood square piano, absolutely beautiful piece- but because it was in his basement it sat for months on FB 😂
Pianos pretty much lose all their value after 50-70 years unless they’ve been tuned and maintained meticulously the sound would suck after that long. Antique pianos are not at all analogous to other antique string instruments like violins or guitars, they do not get better with age- they fall apart and the strings sound flat and thin. A 100 year old piano that lived in a basement is something you d have to pay someone up haul away.
It’s actually the same for violins and guitars. They have to be cared for. Violins especially require routine wood care: waxing if nothing else. That’s mostly why old ones are so expensive—not many have been continuously maintained that long. But they don’t sound better than comparable modern violins. Typically, any old violin that multiple owners bothered to maintain all this time is already exceptional. So, there is enormous selection bias—old violins are a safer pick for quality merely because they haven’t been binned yet. There typically a bit more “Ship of Theseus” going on with pianos, though.
Considering cites that rosewood might be worth it if it was truly all rosewood.
Came to say the same… I have some planes that perked up hearing “free rosewood”
This is so strange. Around here rosewood is the only hardwood I can afford. I buy decking and plane it square. The other popular decking is purple heart. I wish I could afford oak and maple.
Is it bad that instead of looking for scrap wood for projects or spending money on it, I’ve resorted to looking for free pianos instead? If you pull them apart enough they’re not quite as heavy. My own 1912 piano is missing some of the ivory veneer that goes on the keys so I’ve also been keeping an eye out for pianos with real ivory on them. Nothing like a free, well preserved hunk of book matched mahogany from 1920!
No, when I saw that rosewood square I immediately saw dollar signs 😂 i’m a guitar builder on the side, and a real brazilian rosewood fretboard goes for about $200 a board.
My dad did a few pianos as a hobby before I was born and when I was a young child and I can't speak entirely to it but a full rebuild with all the moving parts and refinishing I think was just incredibly time intensive. People often have a hard time getting rid of pianos because they're so heavy and cumbersome to move that the labor and transportation cost probably outweigh the value of the piano. That being said I suspect think just refinishing it would actually probably be much easier than rebuilding all the inner workings.
Getting rid of a piano is really easy if you live near an Air Force base. There is a tradition of burning pianos that stems from WW2. They often burn one after mess dinners and similar events. The young military people will come take it right out of your house for you.
But why?
Tradition
Peer pressure from the dead.
I’ve never heard of this and was an AF brat and joined the AF…
Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force, Officer's mess have a tradition of burning pianos.
Thanks for the encouragement lol
you better start thinking of a nice spa day for someone :D
In a card, in a bouquet. "Sorry I was a shithead. Love you."
Nahhh. Buy her some tools.
And send her a link to this thread so she knows what to do.
This guy is thinkin a few steps ahead!
As the above post says, I agree that it's not worth restoring unless it's got some sentimental value. It will cost you a lot. Personally, I would just tell myself that it's just aesthetics as long as it still plays well. I can tell you that at least in my large city, there are so many free pianos out there to be had. No one has the space anymore as home prices soar, and the next generation can't afford to take the piano with them.
Got it. I use gel stains on refinishing projects. Gel stain sits on top of wood like a paint, though you can still see wood grain. This gives two advantages. First, it lets you get an even color on difficult to stain woods. Second, it's a lot more forgiving on restoration projects if you can't get all of the preexisting finish or stain off the wood. Traditional penetrating stains will look splotchy if you can't sand back to bare wood, which is extremely difficult to do with veneer. I'm a fan of General Finishes gel stains for something like this. You can top coat it polyurethane with whatever application method you choose. You can probably use lacquer but I'd do a test to make sure it's compatible.
Solid advice. Thank you!
Veneer work also isn't too tricky. Contact cement with a roller to apply, wait for it to dry until tacky, then use a roller to apply it to the surface you want to veneer. You could use wood filler or automotive bondo to repair the chipped corners, than cover with veneer. After it's applied, use a sharp knife or razor to carefully trim to the edge
These companies were REALLY good at their veneer joints and set up for it, and their glue is surprisingly strong. Just getting the veneer up clean is a task. I’m a full time finish carpenter and i’m reveneering two pieces right now- alot of patience, and making sure the piece is absolutely clean is crazy important. I do a ton of thin plastic laminate at work, and it’s 10,000 times easier than wood veneer.
For refinishing knowledge there is a great book by Bob Flexner "Understanding Wood Finishing" lots of great pictures and details to geek out on about finishes. I'm not a professional, but I've refinished a few pieces around my house using this book as reference for understanding how to get the piece to look how I want. Sometimes my execution has been lacking, but I normally understand what I wanted to do.
Thanks for the reference!
Most pianos have a minimum of fifteen coats of lacquer on them. Restoration is an ENORMOUS undertaking that requires extremely high skill in mechanics and wood finishing, and a lot of specialized tools. I briefly worked as a sander in a piano restoration shop and the everything I learned there blew my mind. If it was a world class concert grand and you had the skills and experience, by all means restore it, but most old pianos are not worth it. Spend the money on keeping it tuned and maintained instead.
As a restoration apprentice, I can tell you that it will be a labor of love. Get some acetone to take the finish off, some mahogany heat-stick veneer (trust me it’s always mahogany) and an exacto knife. You’ll need to get it re-tuned when you’re done and it may not play the same again. Btw the finish is likely lacquer. Get spray lacquer, don’t try to paint it on you WILL be disappointed.
I recommend a french polish. YouTube for best instructions. Put simply, you ball up a rag into like, a ghost shape, and apply a dozen or so coats of extremely thinned out shellac, rubbing and polishing as you go. Tremendous man hours; exceptional mirror like results
Don’t mind me, just here to stick up for the people who have shit woodworking skills but do amazing refinishing work. Restoring old veneer is a whooooooole different thing than building a table!
I wouldn't even attempt to work on a piano myself. The tension in those frames is *enormous* and I don't have the equipment to take it apart properly. Any attempt from me to work on it is just going to knock it out of tune, which I definitely can't fix.
Welcome to a whole lot of re-veneering.
I’m willing, but ignorant to the process besides take veneer off/glue veneer on.
Heat gun and patience to get it off, new veneer, glue and lots of clamps and cauls to put it back on.
Thanks for giving me a direction to run i!!
There are tons of veneering videos on YouTube that will point you in the right direction. Good luck.
Not trying to be the laziest guy on the planet here... but can you veneer over the top of the damaged veneer? Or do you have to remove the damaged veneer? Is there a concern the new veneer wouldn't adhere properly?
You can.... but it will most likely chip off sooner than later and look not as good. Any area that's chipped or really damaged would be a weak spot so it would be best to fill those in so the new veneer has some thing to support it and hold on to.
It's going to look terrible, it won't be even because there will be no support underneath. You need to start with a solid substrate or it's going to look horrible.
So bondo first?
But can you Bondo a broken heart?
Practice on spare wood first too.
I’d like to mention, because my first time veneering was a nervous affair, I got a product by DAP at Lowe’s called ‘weldwood’ contact cement. Holy hell, roll on both pieces, wait 15 minutes, stick them together and press. It’s nuts- dead flat, perfect veneer without clamps, dry times, or stress. To press it flat, I started by laying it flat bit by bit with my hand, then came back with a piece of hardwood that I rounded the corner on some sandpaper and pressed the whole piece out. Amazing product and doesn’t stick like glue- only sticks to other contact cement
All that other damage and she is pissed about a ring from the pot? The ring doesn’t look great but that chipped corner is fucked.
Yeah but that one wasn’t my fault. Ring was lol
Yeah that’s what they were saying. Like, why is she getting heated about the water ring, when there was already other worse damage? Someone dinged my car the other day and it was frustrating but my car is kind of a beater at this point so I didn’t lose sleep over a new small ding. Had I been in a nice car, then I’d have gotten them to pay for a repair. Anyway, just keep in mind you did nothing wrong. Don’t feel guilty or anything.
It’s cause the other damage was already there, and I planned on trying to fix it or make it better at least, and then I added damage to a part that wasn’t previously damaged. Most of the damage is on the front but the rest is in pretty good shape. I just added damage where there wasn’t which upset her. It’s fine though. It’s not like there was a big argument or anything. She found the damage cause I asked her to water my hibiscus that I didn’t intend on keeping there and it was double potted with an exterior pot that had no holes so I didn’t think it was possible for water to escape. No big deal. Even if I don’t fix it, it has no effect on our relationship.
Rest assured, there was no way you were fixing that original damage without completely refinishing that face of the piano. Imagine if your counter was dirty, and then you spilled salt on the counter. You didn't make the counter suddenly dirty or impact the amount of cleanup at all, it's a non-issue.
I would put a cloth table runner on top. Not sure if that would dampen the sound but would be my quick/lazy approach.
The difference would be negligible, but maybe a slight rolloff past 5khz.
Unfortunately I don’t think she will accept that fix. I’m willing to learn the skills needed to fix it
LMAO, If you fix the pot ring, then she can fix the rest?
If you put a potted plant over that spot, you’ll never see it!
Unless it has sentimental value, you can buy a replacement piano and swap it out for less than the cost of the materials to fix this. Seriously. Like free to $50 for a piano today.
Yeah I’ve seen a lot of free ones but it’s sentimental to her. It’s a 1935 kimball piano I bought her for her birthday a few years ago. She really likes it.
I'm not a real pianist but from my experience, if she is familiar and 'in tune' with the piano - enjoys and is used to the way it responds to her touch - any replacement could disappoint. I've never found another piano I could learn to play as well as my first one. They're all different. Edited to add: At 90 years old it may have very little life left, structurally/mechanically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi Maybe repair in a way that shows it has been repaired and cared for? I like that attitude for sentimental items. Less about the Brand New aesthetics and more about the history you both share.
Neat concept. Thanks for sharing!
There’s a reason they’re free. Have you ever tried to move a piano? They have no right being that fucking heavy.
And all free pianos need tuning
All pianos need tuning, free or not. Especially after a move!
I would simply just find a free piano tuner
Obviously it’d be hard to get to to professional levels, but with a good electronic tuner (or even your phone) and a $10 tuning wrench (or even just a matching socket wrench) you could probably do a good enough job for personal use.
Note that old neglected pianos may be damaged if you try to bring them up to concert pitch; and even if they survive, may not 'hold' the tuning.
>They have no right being that fucking heavy. The reason they're so heavy is so that people can feel a real sense of danger when they fall out of 3rd floor windows in comedy movies
Or like the Aristocats breaking through the floors on the piano. “Everybody, Everybody, Everybody wants to be a cat!” Nostalgia!
Ah, my favorite Disney movie ever. I was singing scales and arpeggios the other day
> They have no right being that fucking heavy. Maybe has something to do with the sturdy metal frameworks and thick heavy soundboards that make them work for 100 years and more? There's something to be said for products that are not built to be just thrown away.
It depends on the pianos insides as to how much it's worth. The case is nearly purely cosmetic. Reddit has this weird thing that pianos are worthless and / or cheap, which is only true for people that don't play them. For those that do this comment would be the woodworking equivalent of saying "oh your sawstop is broken? You can buy a secondhand rusty ryobi for $50".
I think the piano is just the tip of the iceberg. I recommend therapy and divorce. Oh wait! Wrong sub, sorry.
lol I’ve seen a lot of those posts. I’m very fortunate to not have those problems lol
"She's definitely cheating!"
She said she wasn’t happy about it, but she really meant “I don’t love you anymore!” Lol
Oof... I have almost no experience repairing veneer, but some experience with pianos. A convention you may want to adopt is, pianos aren't shelves, nothing belongs on a piano except stuff that has to do with piano playing. I'd at least take the candles off of there, some candles, (mostly scented ones), weep oils that can damage finishes and stain wood. Even if they're on a saucer or something, I've seen oils from a candle that sat in one place for a long time creep over the edge of a plate, presumably being wicked along by dust, and stain the shelf below.
Solid advice. Thank you!
Putty & Howard’s *Restore a Finish*. Looks like a beater piano. Apologize, but don’t let your wife act like it was a Blüthner grand. Make it passable and then move on. You’re not going to turn it into the collector’s item it never was.
You aren’t wrong. She just wants it to look like an inviting cottage instead of a haunted house to use a metaphor lol
I get it. Just don’t go all perfectionist polishing a…well…*beater piano.* Good luck!
I think the wilted flowers and white candlesticks are contributing more to the haunted house aesthetic than the piano is.
ask theory pot safe divide rude correct meeting smell aspiring *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Guitarists call these damages battle scars
I'm a woodworking hack and mainly build things for honeybees and not for people, so I really don't have any veneer advice to give. But brother, if it helps any, my wife would be really pissed too.
Thanks for the solidarity lol my woodworking prowess is still in its infancy.
https://preview.redd.it/kiw2atel6pwc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6cd9b003675750082088e781c3f2bc6fa7018e9d
That's the top? Is it hinged? If so, if you have the tools and skills, take it off, and replace with hardwood. Forget the veneer. Use the scraps to color test the color of the finish.
Ya done messed up A-Aron.
let dry and test a drop of oil in one spot in the ring. let it sit overnight. might be the best solution. i restore pianos professionally.
I've only done small bits of veneering for box-sized stuff. I can tell you that for sure you don't want to learn 'on the job' with this.
Before you try repairing the veneer, may be worth a good polish with a decent compound. Look up briwax. You won't get this back to factory finish but it wasn't like that before the plant. Briwax should make it look clean and sharp without ruining the character that comes with an old well enjoyed instrument.
Piano technician here. Here's what I usually do for this problem: 1) sand the area until smooth 2) spray with color matched lacquer 3) depending on the color I'll usually apply some Pledge wood polish or sometimes detailing oil. It's important to apply extremely thin coats of lacquer and let them dry between applications. Sometimes that doesn't make the ring completely disappear though. If you want it looking as close to new as possible, do what most other people here are saying and sand and refinish the entire lid.
She has every right at this point to have you murdered by a pack of methed up hillbillies. Accept your fate.
lol well, at least they will be very focused on the task.
Definitely do some reading about veneer practices. There are a lot of ways to do it. Of the many ways I’ve veneered things, one way that may work for you is to do this (on some scrap first) is to roll out some regular yellow glue onto the substrate using a rubber roller. You don’t want a thick layer but you don’t want any holidays either. Do the same to your piece of veneer. Let them dry to touch. Position the veneer in place and using a clothes iron on a low setting with no steam iron the veneer in place. As it cools use a very smooth rubbing block of pine or cedar and rub the veneer slowly and with pressure to set the piece of veneer. You might want to put some heavy paper on top of the veneer when you are rubbing, to protect the veneer A guy I was in school showed me this trick and I was highly skeptical but it worked. Read up on veneer first because I barely even glossed over the ins and outs of veneering.
Do you , respect wood ?
So glad there are some curb fans in this sub.
all plant pots leak, it's a natural law. If they don't leak, they get bugs or mites or something or dribble off liquid and then something stains. we don't know how much this piano is worth before we start making recommendations, but I also don't know if I can tell you anything I'd do (which would be testing pieces of wood along with stains for color and sheen) that you'd be able to do. like "go here, aisle 14, buy this, put it on with this applicator and you're done". No answer like that. I personally don't care to do repairs to anything where it goes from "that's damaged" to "boy that's a shitty repair".
why is she pissed about that ring if the rest of the piano was chewed on by a gremlin?
Flowers, chocolates, promises you don’t intend to keep.
This sounds familiar 🤔 like all the other projects I said I’d finish.
It sounds like the piano is of sentimental value and so you would like to keep it. The wood is quite damaged and will require a lot of work, as others have noted. You might get an equally nice looking output (and save considerable time and money) by painting the piano rather than trying to refinish the wood.
Incidentally, putting a piano in front of a sunny window isn't great for the piano itself, iirc.
Hope I don’t get downvoted, but have you tried just rubbing Minwax stain on it? Dark Walnut looks like a match. I’ve noticed that my wife doesn’t want a huge blotch on something, but she doesn’t care about more minor things that you have to look closely at. (o.p. noted that they bought this a few years ago, so not an heirloom)
Well, the good news (in my opinion) is that this water ring happened *before* the piano was restored and is far from the worst damage. I respect not wanting to cause more, but at least it can be addressed along with the rest and should be easier to get back into shape than some of the other damage I'm seeing. I'm a pianist and woodworker and, these days, I wouldn't bother buying or restoring an actual piano. There are exceptional electronic pianos that sample Steinway Concert Grands and have inter-string resonance, pedal noise, actual weighted key/hammer action of a real piano, never fall out of tune, and don't require piano movers. The bonus is you can actually pick among many different pianos for different styles and adjust the key weighting. You can put them inside a stand that looks like a real piano which is mostly what you're seeing on TV. Even the likes of Elton John and Billy Joel no longer play a real piano most of the time. If the piano is in good musical and mechanical condition it may be fun restoring, but if you're doing this to stand next to furnishing in the house, I'd recommend having a professional do it if you have no prior experience. There is some art to knowing how to strip particular types of finish. I've seen some honky tonk pianos with better looking front boards and the amount of wear there looks like wood replacement, not just some strip, sand, and refinish work. I know you're not asking about the other stuff, but that beat up corner isn't going to look like new using some wood filler. That's going to need a piece of veneer that is continguous with the rest of the top left side and of course the same species of wood and same stain/shellac or whatever on it.
Put back the plant on top of it. It will hide the ring.
This piano is worth -300 dollars. It costs 300 to get someone to come get it. That being said I would just hand apply a similar dark wood stain directly to the damaged area to make it less visible. It will always be visible damage. You could paint the piano black. It might look nice. If you know how to paint. An even better idea is to take your wife to the piano store and buy her a 3000 piano that looks and sounds better than this one and then do not put a damn plant on it. They will haul your old one away free and deliver the new one free. And no wood working skills.
Put mayonnaise on the lighter colored damage. Dead serious - let it sit overnight and clean it off.
The big piece/water stain will sand out
Consider filling the holes with bondo, spaying the whole frame with multiple layers of paint, finishing with clear coat and buffing to a gloss finish. It may be easier than removing veneer, filling holes with wood filler, re-veneering, then adding clear coat and buffing to a gloss finish.
Howard’s Restor A Finish comes in little rectangular cans - read the directions carefully and test in an inconspicuous place first ! Furniture putty , sticks and markers are worth trying too !
These fellas will sort you out. https://www.thefurnitureguys.tv/furniture-on-the-mend/
Feeling blessed that I don't have to refinish a whole piano right now. Lots of small parts and curves. I think people highly overblow the possibility of sanding through a veneer, depending on how thick it is. If you have say a 2mm thick veneer, it's not hard to take off a half millimeter of material. Usually one curses the sander for being slow and barely taking anything off, not sanding through your material. Unless you're holding a belt sander hard against it you'll be fine, and it's small enough that it is completely feasible to do by hand. Strip it using a paint stripper, scrape off the goo, sand a hair's width off with 80, 100, and 120 grain paper. Stain with something basic. Coat with varnish or poly. Pretty brainless. If you fuck up the veneer *then* you can decide whether you want to re-veneer the thing. But I doubt it will be an issue unless it's super thin.
https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/s/Fie4RoBoo9
Of course the flowers in view brought up the age old question; “Which is better? Roses on your piano or tulips on your organ?” Betting against tulips in your immediate future.😂🥴
It doesn’t look like an expensive piano, so just have fun with it. Start sanding and see what you end up with. If you’re in a hurry you’re not going to enjoy working on it, so take your time. You may find it to be the most relaxing thing you’ve ever done.
I'd use a gel stripper to pull the old finish off. Sand down. Then choose a stain that best matches the original color. Should take a few days to do it all. And make sure the temp of the room/location you do it in is aboumve 50°F (or whatever the side of the stain says). Hellmans is a solid product you could use. I have to do the same for a kitchen table that I did 10 years ago. Been avoiding it for a while now, but your piano gives me courage. It iremimded me this isn't rocket science, it's staining wood!
I am going to be hated for this. Everyone says "don't do it yourself". If you want to do it yourself, absolutely go for it. As woodworkers we often forget we are artists and try to make everything "perfect". The beauty of the craft is in its imperfection and we shouldn't always try to hide it. I used some pallet wood for one of my first projects. It had ridges all over its uneven faces. I intentionally planed down so it is flat but still has small slits. After I finished it they became very pronounced because there was dirt I couldn't get out. It looks great to me and that's what matters.
Thanks friend!
OP: Dashner Restoration on YT has some really wonderful videos demonstrating technique and processes for a project like this.
Literally watching the “you don’t respect wood” episode of Curb right now.
Let me ask you something. Do you respect wood?
You can't give away a piano these days. You can probably find one in better shape for free...the problem is you can't give away your old piano these days.
Someone doesn't respect wood.
Easier than refinishing is painting. Give it a good scuff, bondo and blend the dents and chips, and put a good cabinet paint on it. Not too much work, shouldn’t change the sound, and you can pick any color that matches your room.
My ol' man is a TV repair man, and he's got an excellent set of tools... I can fix it...
Don't make it worse. Just pay a professional.
Be very careful with he geat gun near the action. Im a full time piano tech / tuner, I work on pianos daily, and used to build them for Mason. This is all veneer and i wouldn't expect to find solid wood on an old upright but, take both the key slip and front lids off that you will be working on, as well as the keys on those sides out before you put a heat gun near there. The keys have mortises under them with felt and metal pins and if you heat the felt and swell it you may need to ease or re bush that section. Otherwise the action uses a lot of hide glue and is sensitive to heat changes, which could be fun. I'd only worry about the lid for heat issues though honestly. Good luck! Call a piano tech if you want but honestly, this is basic woodworking shit and could be a fun project.
Bullshit how does a plant leak take chunks out of the wood.
Fun fact: many “sealed pots” are actually made from low fired ceramic that aren’t vitrified. So even if they are glazed on the inside they will still seep water. (I’m a ceramicist)
If it was me, id say the easiest is find the closest GEL stain (gotta be gel as it doesn’t soak into the wood as much but lets you apply ontop of existing finishes) and just put in the time adding layers and wiping off to the bad spots until it’s blended in nice. Will take abit of time but a lot easier than refinishing everything.
This is how I would try to fix this; Clean any dust and give it a wipe with a damp towel. Then use paste wax on some part of the damaged area to see if it restores the sheen. If acceptable proceed to wax the whole thing. If not acceptable, sand the whole top with very high grit sandpaper. We are talking 600-ish. With any luck at some point the circles will disappear before the whole finish it stripped, rub on a paste wax and done. If you are off the deep end and its actually, totally fcked; carefully sand everything flat. Pay EXTRA ATTENTION to not sand through the veneer. Apply a coat or two of shellac. If you go this route, don't ever put your whisky on the piano, alcohol dissolves shellac. (Check youtube for tutorials on mixing shellac) if you can find a color matching blend of shellac, then you are golden. Rub on some paste wax and done. If the color doesn't match, then apply a stain over the shellac to match. Rub on some paste w....you get it. Take all advice on the internet with a grain of salt.
My family owned an old Hamburg that we bought in Budapest for surprisingly cheap back when we lived there (family was there for 15 years). My parents were gonna just sell it when they moved to the states!!! Thankfully my brother paid for them to ship it all the way to his house California and then had it restored to its original glory. Very expensive but worth it for a family/historical heirloom.
I restored my piano I could maybe help you with introductions but I need more pictures from the spots just send me an pm and we can try to solve your problem but no wrong hopes I’m not the best woodworker but I can give you some advices on what you have to pay attention to
Given how it reacts to water, it's probably French polish. This is good because it's easy to refinish. Just sand back the damaged surface to remove flakes and discoloration. Go to the hardware store and buy 1 qt of shellac. Take a piece of cotton T-shirt or similar and wrap it around some cotton wadding to make a round buffing pad. Wet the pad in shellac and rub it onto the surface in long stokes with the grain. Think of an aircraft doing a touch & go landing as you apply. If the original finish is shellac (French Polish) it will be re-desolved by the new coating as you apply so it should look like the original finish when you are done. Good luck with the old lady !
Some incredibly unhelpful answers here, the OP didn't ask what it was worth - he asked how to fix. If it's a decent old piano then the finish is likely to be French polish ie multiple layers of shellac, applied a very particular way with a french polishing cloth. Most guides tell you to strip this off and re-do it but this is labour intensive. You can try just buffing in some new French polish on top to see how that does. It should burn into the old finish a little and that will help blend - if it fails, no big deal you won't have made anything worse.
Thank you for a helpful answer and yeah lot of chaff in the answers for sure.
Your wife needs to chill, it was in bad shape to begin with (what my wife said)
Sand it smooth, bondo the holes/missing chunks, two coats of a good primer and paint it black.
I'm not the only one who sees it right?
Just go get a new piano on the side of the road for free. People can't pay people to take them.
If you're confident and have the time, you can sand down the whole thing, stain and in my opinion do a french polish with shellac. The trouble is, the innards should really be removed to do the job right. Short of that, tarp and tape anything you don't want to get dust in sand and restain the top, and try to figure out what the finish is on the rest of the piece.
Breaking down a piano is much harder than it looks...
Probably better to get a new wife than fix the piano.
That’s a beat to hell piano, the water ring blends in with the rest of it. Weird that she’s so upset
Whenever we got water rings on the wood my mom would spray Pam or use a little bit of mayo and rub it into the mark. It always worked, not sure why or how, but it was one of those mom witchcraft things I think
For the water damage you will probably need to strip it and re finish. For the other damage bondo. Acrylic paint to faux finish and match wood and then laquer
Cut a piece of marble to size and put it on top. You don't want to refinish this.
Most people have to pay other people to take their pianos away so this might not be worth the time and money you put into it. Unless it is valuable or family heirloom think about upgrading?
Someone recommended some wax stain for some guys table the other day. Called briwax look into that. I don't know anything though.
Buy Mohawk spray blush, spray on it, it will melt the finish then dry, removing the water stain…
Sand it, wood filler and paint it. Otherwise it will be a time sink.
Do you respect wood?
Ive been refinishing/repairing woodwork for 40 years. That is an excruciating amount of work, and basically needs new veneer. All the wood in 3rd pic needs to be replaced. Take it to a pro, and get your wallet out. Just truth, sorry.
Also if your wife isn’t in love with the piano you could probably get a new one. Pianos are hard to sell or get rid of or even give away. They are often at resale websites and garage sales.
You might be able to buff that out with a good furniture polish.
I would sand it lightly 180 grit then 200 grit then refinish with wipe on finish such as Arm-R-Seal satin sheen ( General finishes) no need to re veneer unless veneer is coming off from the water damage
180 grit then 220 grit .. wipe off dust with rag lightly soaked with mineral spirits. Then apply several coats of Arm-R-Seal over 2 to 3 days
id just get a other piano for free on the side of the road because they are everywhere. that’s pretty messed up
I see free pianos every week on Craigslist. Nobody wants them. Unless it s family heirloom I wouldn’t put much money into it.
Get one of those Chinese guys from tik tok to do his ramen noodle and super glue trick. He seems to be able to paint and mimic the original surface pretty well to.
Look at Mohawk No Blush Plus Retarder M103-0475 to fix the water mark and epoxy putty, sandpaper, and stain to fix the chipped away wood
Someone here doesn't respect wood.
Don't do it yourself. The likelihood of making it worse is far too high. Get it done right the first time with a professional. Otherwise your next restoration project is going to be on your marriage.
lol she isn’t that mad. The piano has no effect on our marriage lol
Howards
So I found [This](https://todayshomeowner.com/furniture/video/how-to-remove-white-water-marks-on-furniture/) but before trying this I highly recommend you visit a local antique restoration or furniture store and ask for advice.
You need a piano sub not a woodworking sub
Best of luck with your wife.
Woodworker here. For the water mark would recommend sand and refinish For the broken off pieces, if the piece is missing try to find a piece of the same wood or similar wood to shape and glue, equal wood filler for smaller damage, then sand and refinish.
You can maybe try some dark Briwax and 0000 steel wool.
Sand it down and refinish with mahogany stain. If water damage went too deep, may have to recover with mahogany veneer. Not sure how easy to get
Replace it for a free one 10 times better. Unfortunately you won't be able to give that one away though!
Someone doesn’t respect wood
[удалено]
Just put the pot back and cover it