Hi There !  Yes, I was off line for quite some time but hopefully things
are sorted out now again.  I had a question from Eric Bergstrohm
regarding ivory-repairs by a dentist.

Dentists are quite expensive for this type of work but for ivories which
are still in otherwise good condition this is definitely worthwhile.
I cannot give you any names of materials to use but any dental supply
company stocks all these materials, I did enquire a few years ago but
found the stuff too expensive.

You will need:

  Dental repair epoxy as used to fill holes in teeth.
  Colour shades from white to dark yellow, you have to match the
    ivories' colour.
  Dentists infra red light
  Dremel tool for polishing and buffing the repaired sections.

It works as follows:

  Bleach your ivories and clean them to get them as white as possible.
  Mix the epoxy colour to match the ivory colour exactly.
  Apply the epoxy with a small spatula or suitable tool.
  Shine the light on it for about 10 seconds to harden.
  Polish and buff together with the ivories.

If done by a good dentist, it is not possible to see the repair at all.

Regards,

Bernt W. Damm, Restorer of Automatic Musical Instruments,
Cape Town, South Africa
Tel/Fax:  +27 21 592 5124
(Member of AMICA & GSM)

 [ I have a vision of a startled dentist, who is staring at a mouthful
 [ of teeth arranged like the black & white piano keyboard!  -- Robbie