Refinishing a piano

[Ole Anderson]

This is probably a crazy idea, but our church just purchased a very nice sounding Chickering baby grand piano from the 1930's and I am wondering about refinishing it. All of the wood in our church is limed oak, and the piano is a dull brown wood that looks like mahogany. The finish has some scrapes and is very badly crazed and checked with fine cracks. Granted you don't see the crazing unless you get about a foot from it, but the boring color is what is the problem. Wondering what steps are needed to give it a black piano finish? The lid, the cover over the keys, the bench and the music stand are all removable and could be finished in my shop, but the main case would have to be done in place. Pretty sure this isn't a project I want to take on, but has anyone ever refinished a piano to black?

[John Blazy]

Black lacquer or black Auto urethane then 2K urethane multi coat topcoat to get it thick enough to cut and buff. And it will look like crap, no matter how skilled you are. So many learning points. Black is the worst, as it shows off all 1000 grit wet sand marks til they are leveled off by heavy cut compound, then you get micro ripples. Hours of labor per sq ft. If you are experienced enough, you know that 3M Trizact discs are worth their weight in gold for cutting and leveling prior to buffing, but still lots of hours labor. Then most forget the final machine glaze to remove swirl marks.

Basically - don't do it. I wouldn't touch it unless paid about five grand, then lower cost options like only cut and buff the top only.