 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: oian
Date: 2008-10-27 06:25
I recently aquired an older Le Blanc Bass clarinet. After replacing a couple of pads and some adjustments it plays just fine. The keywork however has a lot of tarnish (I believe it is nickel plated). Short of removing, polishing and re-attaching the keywork (which I don't want to do as it is way beyond my abilities), is there anything that can be used to polish in place keywork? I tried a little jewlers rouge and a small buffing wheel on a small area, but I felt that doing too much of that would likely either cause adjustment problems, or clog up something! I tried some of the Never-Dull mentioned in a previous post and it worked well in some areas but not at all in most areas.
Polished keywork would be nice, but I'm not averse to leaving it as it is if polishing it on the instrument is going to be more trouble than it's worth. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, John
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-10-27 07:24
I think with nickel plate it's best left alone while the instrument is in good working order. I know it may look dull and grey, but as long as its all working well you shouldn't worry about the cosmetic appearance.
But when it's time for a full overhaul, then that's the time while the whole instrument has been stripped down to as many pieces as is possible to have all the keys and other metal parts machine buffed up to a bright shine before fitting the pads and key corks/felts.
Leblanc were generous with their nickel plating (may have as much as 20 microns or more, with copper beneath it) which has its pros and cons - the pros being there's less danger of plating wear, the cons being that fitting keywork that's tight between pillars is difficult due to the hardness of the nickel which blunts cutting tools.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-10-27 15:37
In my experience lemon oil is the most effective with no adverse affect on the mechanism. Avoid getting it on the pads.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Geirskogul
Date: 2008-10-27 17:15
If they're plated, I would try with a dremel polishing kit and some rouge, as you have. If it doesn't work, then I'd leave it alone. On old, OLD clarinets that have solid "German-Silver" keys, I would dissassemble it and polish them on a large buffing wheel.
If the clarinet is worth a lot to you, it can always be re-plated. Gets kind of spendy, though, as Nickel is one of the platings you can't do yourself with those kits.
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Author: Margaret
Date: 2008-10-28 00:09
Hi,
I recently (two weeks ago) decided to polish my first clarinet's keys (a nickel plated Normandy). This was after much trouble finding regular stuff that worked on another one that I bought off of Ebay last February to try overhauling myself (it did work, if you're interested).
Anyhow, I found that Brasso brand brass polish, which also mentions it's efficacious on nickel, worked and made no mess. It took a looooong time though!!! I didn't want to take the keys off and risk messing up the pads, etc., so I sat there with a tiny piece of rag and polish. It works and requires no tools, just time and patience.
Margaret
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2008-10-28 04:28
older leblanc clarinets are alot harder to polish up as they take a buffing wheel to clean off the plating. a dremmel tool is too small for the job. your best bet is to clean it over periods of time. keep a polishing rag in your case, and after every practice, wipe the plating down vigorously. over many sessions, the key will shine up.
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
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Author: stevesklar
Date: 2008-10-28 12:36
You can get paste metal polishes out there and do a little at a time using a rag.
I'd avoid the dremel just due to it possibly putting cleaning waste all over the place, such as possibly on pads where you don't want it.
just a rag and some metal polish (brasso is good for brass, and the silvo is good for silver but i'm talking regular metal polish such as Flitz. I use a different brand from time to time but can't recall its name.
Be careful when using it, and apply small amounts to a rag and then polish the keywork in small sections. You don't want to get the polish (as it will turn the rag black very quickly) between the keywork and posts, on corks (looks icky) nor on the pads.
just be careful and apply in sections away from those until your build up confidence and your polishing skills
As mentioned to get the keywork 100% without affecting anything else requires a strip down then buffing - which as you can imagine, would then need new corks and pads.
==========
Stephen Sklar
My YouTube Channel of Clarinet Information
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