With the polishing I began with scraping off the old varnish/shellac or whatever it is they used 100 years ago, then a light sanding, then the polish:

There is the main front panel all polished up. I’m pretty happy with the result.

On a side note, my playing is coming along nicely too! loads of practice still needed though.

To Do:

Repair the broken lid

Scrape and polish main body, legs, hood and lid

Tune

Polish brass candle holders and Chappell plaque

I may also get a locksmith in to make me a key for it also.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=419804815 is the trademe listing. I’m not sure how long that will remain available though. It is gorgeous, solid oak with ivory keys. Here I am having a play:

So far I have cleaned 100 years of dust out of it, opened it right up and marveled at the the craftsmanship and ingenuity  behind pianos, fixed a couple of sticky keys and notes that weren’t reacting properly, and cleaned the keys. I have begun reattaching the candle holders to the ends – see the broken off parts on each end. and I have reattached a few parts which had worn themselves off it.

Here is what it looks like now:

http://i.imgur.com/Dxlj5.jpg

Not a whole lot different, but still, it’s tidier and I’m proud!

Next on the cards is to finish attaching the candle holders – though I have a feeling that they might not work out, they seem pretty fragile! Along with that job is to properly brace the cover board thing down above the pedals. It will also need a tune of course. I also plan to polish up the pedals and the plaque and have them shining like new. The lid also needs some attention, the front lip of it has been broken off and will require a tidy up. I will probably just saw it off square.

I have a wee bit of a dilemma though… Should I strip the wood back and polish it up? Or leave it as is? I can’t decide, I don’t want it to lose any of that antique charm, but the oak is capable of looking so much better!

Accompanied with some home made Chaphatti and Chutney it was an awesome feast.

Just thought I’d let you know…

Feast!

So this year I’m getting into Christmas. This is pretty big from me I’m normally something of a grinch. Must be Hana’s influence

We plan to do lots of christmassy things this year – so last night we made Eggnog! using <>a href = “http://www.eggnogrecipe.net/traditional-eggnog-recipe.html”>this recipe, however we reduced it to a quarter of the size and still made heaps.

It was my first eggnog experience and I must say… AWESOME

For those of you who have never tried eggnog let me try to describe it. It works in the same way that a Ramos gin fizz works. It’s thick, it’s fluffy, it’s creamy, and for no obvious reason – it tastes awesome. Anyone who knows about me and cocktails knows that I usually can’t stand creamyness. For these two drinks I make exceptions.

I found Bourbon to be the more dominant of the flavours coming though so I suggest not going cheap here. We used Maker’s Mark which did very nicely.

Photos! (apologies for the darkness – it was night!)

EGGNOG!

mmmm

'nog mo'

I’ll be sure to miss it. It’s been good to me: I raised over $300 for men’s health and the like, and also won the ‘best mo’ competition at my Cricket Club – a $50 voucher for Denim bar in Parnell.

Pretty stoked.

Day 30 of Movember

The End

Here is the latest:

Day 23 of Movember

Hmmm, not looking so symmetrical, I might need to tidy it up in the mirror tomorrow

Day 18 of Movember

and what a pic it is – you can hardly tell that I overslept this morning.

Day 11 of Movember

So here is day 11, I’m sure it has grown a little – not that you can tell from here. Thanks to all my sponsors so for – reached the $200 milestone last night!