I would like some suggestions/experience on various putties and fillers for repairing damaged corners and edges. Esp. that will need to be stained to match....sometimes I have tried things and they don't take stain very well .

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It depends on the standard of repair you're looking for.

If it's just a 'patch-up', then your local hardware store would probably
be able to advise on pre-coloured fillers etc.

I would suggest you ask a specialist in this field (ie: a french polisher/cabinet maker)
if you're after a high-quality finish.

As a piano tuner/tech, you do cover a wide range of skills, but certain things,
in my opinion, are best left to the experts.

Imagine if someone had their piano professionally re-polished,

and the polisher then offered to 'tidy up the tuning'?!!!

I doubt many tuners would approve of this!!!

(Indeed a good relationship with a polisher can be beneficial -

recommendations can be passed both ways).

.

Hey Melissa,

Have a look at this photo album. These are some of the products that I use for fill and colouring. Sure, there are epoxy style coloured fill products for wood, but I haven’t tried any of them yet. I prefer to use a fill that I can colour later, or put colour in while I mix. This gives you better control over the strength of the colour and what amounts. Also my experience with wood fillers is that when you stain them to always go too dark. Maybe that has changed over the years. I use auto body filler because it dries in 30 minutes rock hard, and will accept any colour. Make sure you get a tube of the red hardener, not the tube of blue.

I haven’t shown you a couple of products like Blendal powder pigmentation colouring or burn-in sticks. Blendal is difficult to use. Burn-in sticks do not work so well on a corner.

Sometimes when you repair a corner it is better to create a “backbone” so that the filler does not chip away or break free. If you need me to show you what I mean by that let me know…..

Please left click on the link once and then left click on the first photo. This will open up the album so that you can read the text below each frame.

http://picasaweb.google.com/silverwoodpi...CJjX5auYl8ufGg#

I think those epoxy tootsie rolls are great for corners or edges. The problem with most wood fillers including the automotive red acrylic/tube or bondo is they all "drop".

The ultimate solution for damaged corners and other finishing problems is offered by this company (website also in English):

http://www.heinrich-koenig.de/

Look also for application tips. Very good is the trainig they offer. When you choose the German version of the website you will see much more details about the topics, target groups, prices and dates. They make a surface and finishing wizard out of you

Gregor

Thanks for the info esp. the reference to the Koenig products which I have not tried.

I've used the König stuff on a few black polyester pianos. You can get some very good results with it.