How to make a piano keyboard

Step 6 Gluing up the keyplank

I planed the edges as straight and flat as I could to prevent introducing any stresses the from gluing or clamping. My planks were near the final thickness so it was more important that the planks line up at the joints than making the panel sit absolutely flat, and the same way after it was glued I concentrated on making it smooth and uniformly thick instead of flattening it across the grain.

I marked out and trimmed the keyplank, and then routed out the bottom in the front 75mm about 4mm deep and glued in a bunch of pieces of cottonwood to make the bearings for the front pins, and routed out the back to make the keys the right height. After planing the cottonwood insert flush I jointed the front and rear ends of the keyplank. I glued on the molding for the front of the keys, a uniformly thin piece of maple wider than the thickness and longer than the final width of the keyplank. Once the glue was dry I trimmed it the right size, put a bead on the front using a scratch stock I made with some scrap and a broken hacksaw blade, and put a light coat of finish on it to keep from staining it with dirt or glue.