 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: John Peacock
Date: 2010-02-15 19:50
I wonder if anyone has any suggestions for polishing surface imperfections out of blackwood? I recently acquired a 1949 Buffet where the bell has some nasty scratches, probably from the band of a music holder. I'm pretty sure I can get the surface flat with the aid of a sharp knife edge and maybe some fine sandpaper. But how to restore the mirror finish that it ought to have? Would a fine abrasive like jeweler's rouge do the job? Thanks.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2010-02-15 21:29
Don't sand down the surface.
First, try Tibet Almond Stick, which is a hard wax used to fill scratches in museum furniture. You could finish it with a tiny bit of black shoe polish, finished with a shoe brush.
If the scratch is too deep for that treatment, get a junk barrel or other clarinet or oboe part, sand off some dust, mix it with epoxy and fill the scratch. Then sand and buff it smooth, finishing with a fine felt-tip pen if the color isn't black enough.
Lelia - What do you do?
Ken Shaw
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2010-02-15 22:42
If after trying to fill the abrasions some form of sanding is still needed then try working with "wet & dry" papers starting no coarser than grade 600 and then working progressively to say 1200 or as fine as you can get.
A final polish with grade 0000 wire wool and some wax could improve it and if you have a buffing machine then tripoli polish is also good.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2010-02-16 02:06
Final polish, after progressively finer sand papers, and perhaps wax or bore oil of your choice:
Put on your jeans, and rub the bell hard on your thigh. 
(Or use a denim smock instead.)
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Author: Joarkh
Date: 2010-02-16 09:50
I don't really care about the scratches on my clarinet as long as it doesn't leak and sounds good...
Joar
Clarinet and saxophone teacher, clarinet freelancer
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2010-02-16 12:13
Ken Shaw wrote,
>>First, try Tibet Almond Stick, which is a hard wax used to fill scratches in museum furniture. You could finish it with a tiny bit of black shoe polish, finished with a shoe brush.
>>
I've never tried this product and never even heard of it before. Thanks for the suggestion!
You asked what I do: so far, nothing. A lot of my older clarinets do have scratches, but since they don't affect the way the clarinet plays, I just make sure they're not cracks and then regard them as "fair wear." Now that you've described Tibet Almond Stick, however, I suspect I'll not be able to resist amending my attitude.
If a dealer wants to lower the price for cosmetic damage, cool, but I don't initiate barter on that basis, because I go back to the same flea markets often and I don't want to get a reputation as an unreasonable bargainer. In fact, I've even told some friendly dealers I see often that I don't care about cosmetic damage and I don't think it should crash the price, unless the damage is so exceptionally terrible-looking that it might scare off a customer if I want to re-sell the clarinet later.
I did once buy a clarinet with the bell painted bright red inside and out, of all things. Since the bell tenon band matched the tenon bands on the rest of the clarinet, indicating the instrument wasn't a mixture of different brands, I went ahead and bought it. I did bargain down the price on that one, because I couldn't tell how the wood would look under the paint or whether paint remover might do more harm than good. The paint came off without much trouble. I washed the bell to remove all traces of the paint remover, then oiled the wood. It turned out the paint didn't cover up any scratches, cracks, filled-in gouges or anything else the matter. There was nothing wrong with that bell. Apparently some previous owner just wanted a red bell, for some reason that completely eludes me.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: John Peacock
Date: 2010-02-16 19:41
Sound is what matters - agreed. But psychology helps: polishing a given instrument to make it more beautiful may well put you in the right frame of mind to help get the best sound. And actually, I think clarinets are beautiful objects just visually, even before you hear them. This is particularly true of vintage instruments, where restoring things to as near to the original as possible is a way of paying homage to the craftsman who created it in the first place. Anyway, many thanks for the suggestions to date.
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